


It's That Obvious

by NewInTown02



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/F, Living in Denial, Multiple Pov, Mutual Pining, So'hara is endgame, hints of Preath, idiots to lovers, thank god for their friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:01:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 47,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22765153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NewInTown02/pseuds/NewInTown02
Summary: Emily doesn't know how to act around Kelley, her long standing crush, now that she's single. Kelley can't figure out why Sonnett is avoiding her.a.k.a. everyone else on the team has figured it out, so why can't these two.
Relationships: Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger, Kelley O'Hara/Emily Sonnett, Tobin Heath/Christen Press
Comments: 69
Kudos: 396





	1. Top or Bottom? - Sonnett

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all,
> 
> As my name suggests I'm new on this scene but looking for comments and/or constructive criticism. These two goons tend to make my heart smile so why not have them fall in love. Hope you enjoy!

I’m just a normal person. Okay so maybe some people wouldn't say that, but hey what do they know? I mean i’m average height, i’d like to think of average intelligence, and if i'm being hopeful, maybe slightly above average when it comes to wit and humor.

Yep, that’s me. Just a typical, slightly funny, human living on earth. There’s probably a million of us just like me, who cuss like me, who just don’t give a fuck like me. Who dress like me, walk, talk, and act like me. Oooof okay note to self, cool it on the Eminem pump up songs for a while. Abby’s music taste is really starting to rub off on me and I don’t know if it’s a good influence. I mean how do you even begin to dance to the real slim shady? Right Sonnett let’s get back on track here. Sure I play soccer for a living, and yes I have won a world cup, but all in all I can’t help feel like a regular person. Especially when i’m staring into the eyes of the Kelley O’Hara, because Kelley, oh she is anything but average.

Sure there’s the obvious facts about Kelley. She’s gorgeous, incredibly athletic, and hot as all hell. Yet what really renders me useless in my constant battle against the affliction known as Kelley crush, is the older defender’s ability to light up a room. I’ve seen it happen time and time again. Whether it is with teammates Kelley has known for years, or with fans who are complete strangers, people can’t help but beam when Kelley is in the room.

When I'm with her I feel simultaneously like a slouch and a rockstar. I feel like a slouch because Kel is practically perfect. She is stunning, hilarious, and the most positive and hard working person i've ever met (and hello professional athlete here, i've met some pretty hard working people). That's the thing about Kelley though, as soon as I start to feel less than by comparing myself to her, she snaps me out of it and makes me feel like the best version of myself. It’s like whenever she’s around people she brings them up to her level. So sure i’ve been plagued with Kelley crush since the day I met her, but you try spending five minutes with her and her antics and not instantly shine. Go ahead, I dare you. It’s a dare you're going to lose I promise. I would know, I've tried it many times.

I’m sharing this with you not because Kelley needs a larger fan club (Lord knows she’s got too many girls in her DMs already) but because I need you to understand that it really isn’t my fault. Wonder woman herself would be powerless against the dazzling enigma that is the Kelley O’Hara. It’s only natural that when Kelley lines up across the table from me I begin to feel the common side effects of this illness: spiking heart rate, general flushness, sweaty hands, and dry mouth, aka Kelley crush in full force.

You would think after several years of friendship I would know how to manage these symptoms, and for a while there I had. You see my Kelley crush symptoms were almost dormant for the better part of the past two years. This of course aligns with the time when Kel had a girlfriend. The day I found out that Kelley had a girlfriend was one of the best days of our friendship. Yes I know you’re confused, because most people who have a not so secret crush on one of their best friends would be devastated to find out said crush was taken. But haha joke is on you universe because this chick right here was thrilled. I no longer had to second guess what every little touch or smile meant. I didn’t have to question whether Kel was this way with all of her close friends, or if this was something special between us because how could there be anything special between us if Kelley had a girlfriend? This meant our relationship was slotted into the easily understood strictly platonic category of friendship, and to me that was much better than the constantly confusing maybe toeing the line past friendship category we had been in before. That “is this something more” question only left me with sleepless nights and general upheaval in our friendship. I wouldn’t let myself get as close to Kelley as I would with other friends like Lindsey, Sam, and Rose because I was worried it would only further fuel my crush symptoms. Kelley having a girlfriend meant she was off limits. Not that she was ever “on-limits” (“within-limits”?) before because one, she was a teammate and two, there was no possible way she could have anything but platonic feelings towards me, but still I liked having the extra insurance of knowing Kelley was officially taken. It made it easier to get close to her. I mean she might as well have been like a straight friend. Someone who you know isn’t going to read into your pats on the back or if you decide to snuggle while watching a movie because their brain just doesn’t even begin to go there. It’s what let me and Kelley get so close during the World Cup, and what ultimately moved her from just being one of my friends, to being one of my best and closest friends. The greatest part was I opened up way more to her than I would have otherwise. I mean it’s still me we’re talking about here so I was normally just making jokes, but every now and then there would be soft moments between jokes that felt real and would have felt vulnerable if they had been with anyone else. Kelley having a girlfriend is what let me put my guard down and finally let Kelley into my heart as one of the best friends a girl could ask for. The only problem is the key word in this whole monologue. Did you notice that word? Yes, correct! The word is had, as in past tense.

“Earth to Sonnett. Are you ready for this?”

Speak of the devil (okay, okay, angel) Kelley was close. How she can even manage to still get up in my space when there is a full table between us is beyond me. Maybe she’s always this invasive and I’ve just forgotten. See I’ve kind of been avoiding Kelley ever since the breakup, but Ashlyn dragged me over to play and I couldn’t think of an excuse fast enough to get me out of it. I give my head a little shake and clear my throat before responding,

“I was born ready Miss Kelley. The question is can you keep up? It’s probably been a while since you’ve done this.”

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” Kelley replies exasperated.

“Just that I was in college much more recently than some. Cough cough.”

“Excuse you! Didn’t they teach you to respect your elders when you were growing up?”

“Oh I’m sorry ma’am I meant no offence.” I reply with an exaggerated southern accent. At the word ma’am I can see Kelley scoff. I’m about to hear whatever snarky response she has when Ashlyn cuts us both off,

“Alright you two, settle down because we’re starting with y'all this round.”

Kelley immediately switches gears and gets her game face on. She extends both of her arms out to the middle of the table with her fists clenched and crosses them waiting for me to mirror her. Once both of our knuckles are touching we wait for the rest of our teams to match up with their respective opponents. As competitive as always Kelley looks me straight in the eye and lowers her voice while taunting,

“Ready to lose?”

I let out a small chuckle and reply,

“Please Kel, I’m a pro at this. Just promise you won’t throw your cup at me when I beat you. Wouldn’t want to make a mess in Alex’s new house.”

“Does everyone have a cup?” Ashlyn asks.

Everyone responds with an affirmative and Ashlyn turns back towards Kelley and me.

“Okay we’re starting. Let me think of a question.”

“Oh I’ve got one!” Exclaims Rose. I already know what the question is just by looking at the smirk on her face. It’s a common one used to start off flip cup (don’t worry it’s just water and not beer. Wouldn’t want to piss off our trainers. I mean we are in LA for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying semi-finals after all).

“Okay Rosie fire away” Ashlyn tells her.

Even though I know what’s coming, it is harder than it should be to look Kelley in the eyes, but I force myself to meet her gaze before I hear Rose shout,

“Top or bottom?”

Without missing a beat we both shout top, down our cups, and flip. Mine sticks on the first try and when I look up to heckle Kelley, I see that her cup is also face down on the table. I shrug at her as if to say ‘well I guess it’s a tie’. She only looks disappointed that she didn’t beat me for a second before she nods and then puts all of her energy into screaming at Ali to go faster. Ashlyn flips her cup on her first try too so my team is onto our third player. Unfortunately for us it’s Lindsey. I love her to death but not having gone to college really hinders her flip cup abilities. Yes she can speak french and has tons of street smarts, which tend to be more important in the grand scheme of life, but for a team that likes to play flip cup often, it always requires some patience if Linds is on your team.

Kelley’s team wins the round. She turns to me to gloat but I shut her down pretty quickly,

“I don’t want to hear it O’Hara. Your team may have won but we still tied.”

It’s Kelley’s turn to just shrug and then she jumps over to the end of the table where her team is celebrating.

“Hmm that’s interesting” I hear Ashlyn muse. Before I can ask Pinoe comes over and says,

“What’s interesting Ash?”

“Oh just that Sonny and O’Hara both said top.” Ashlyn says starting to laugh as she continues,

“And I was thinking, like if they were together, how would that work?” She’s full on cackling now,

“Like they would totally get into fights about it and stuff, you know?”

“Oh my god you are so right.” Pinoe responds and she is laughing too. “They’re both so stubborn, but knowing KO she’d have a system worked out. Something like she’d get Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and Sonny would get Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.”

“And Saturdays would be up for grabs!” I’m not sure how Ashlyn gets that last sentence out because she and Pinoe are both fully doubled over now they’re laughing so hard.

I can feel myself blushing even though I know my teammates are just teasing and Kelley is out of earshot. Still I feel the need to justify myself.

“You guys know I'm right here, I can hear everything you’re saying. Anyways everyone says top because it’s the shorter word!”

Ashlyn gets serious all of the sudden as she sort of deadpans,

“Are you claiming you only said top because it’s the faster answer Sonnett?”

I nod enthusiastically and say “exactly!” Thinking they’ll finally get my logic and drop the topic, but the grins spreading across both of their faces say otherwise.

“So what you’re telling me is- is that you’re actually a- a- a bottom?” Pinoe stammers her question because she is working so hard to suppress her laughter.

“Pssssht bish please. There’s no way! Don’t be ridiculous Son.” pipes in Ash between loud laughs..

“I’m not being anything! You guys are giving me a hard time on purpose!” I huff out and turn my head to see who’s just slung their arm around my shoulder. If I wasn’t red before I know I am about the same shade as a sun tanning lobster now.

“Oh that is one of my favorite activities! Why are we giving Son a hard time?”

“Because Kel, Sonnett is trying to convince us that she is a bottom and we’re having none of it.”

“I’m doing nothing of the sort!”

“Hah! So you admit it. You are a top!”

I flip Ashlyn and Pinoe the bird as I feel Kelley give me a slight push, motioning with her body pressure for us to start walking towards Alex and Baby Janice.

“What Kel, no thoughts on the subject?”

“Yeah I thought you’d have an opinion about this?”

I can’t be positive since my head won’t turn that way, but from the way her body shifts as we walk away I would hazard a guess to say it’s Kelley’s turn to flip the bird at our friends. I don’t let myself dwell on the fact that Kelley, miss never-embarrassed-ever O’Hara, was seemingly as excited to get away from that conversation as I was. Only I don’t know why she’d be embarrassed? But like I said, I don’t let myself go there. If I go there then the symptoms of my Kelley crush could get exponentially worse, and they’re bad enough as it is. If I hadn’t been such an idiot I wouldn’t have let her in the way I did, but I was naive. I thought everything was fixed for good. I should have remembered that life is an extremely fragile balance and things were bound to break sometime.

You see Kelley had a girlfriend, but they broke up just before the holidays, and I hadn’t really counted on that. Math has never been my strong suit and I hadn’t factored that in as a possibility when I had let my guard down. Remember our conversation earlier when I mentioned that? See, I generally have like an invisible fence up when I meet new people. It’s a normal thing that everyone does I think. With Kelley though, it wasn’t so much a fence as it was a huge ass wall. The great wall of Kelley you could say. And she didn’t just manage to climb over it with ropes and shit. No, no, no, she catapulted a giant hole right into that mother of a wall and stepped through it gracefully.

The problem with this is before I had let my guard down I had been able to keep the Kelley crush symptoms at a distance. Sure they would flare up now and then but mostly it was like an inconvenient minor ache, nothing to write Dawn about (miss you Dawn). Now, without that reassurance that everything was strictly platonic between Kelley and I (aka said ex-girlfriend) I didn’t so much as let my guard down, it is more like I opened the floodgates that let Kelley crush storm into my system. It’s a problem. A problem I don’t have an answer to yet. Like I said, math has never been my strong suit, but even I can tell a problem when I see one. You don’t have to take my word for it! Just ask Lindsey. She is the first one to tell you that I am a lost cause. An incurable case in fact.


	2. We've Gotta Match - Kelley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allie interferes, Sonnett gets confused, Alex is V pregnant.

Things have been going well with Sonnett today.

I wasn’t sure how she’d act towards me after the other day. I was just trying to be a supportive teammate after all. Just trying to show Sonnett how proud I was of her, and how happy I was that she was starting and playing a full 90 minutes. I mean sure, maybe the back pat was a little longer and a little lower than it should have been. Still! There was no reason for her to jump away and look at me like I was Medusa. I mean i’ve given that same back pat to Alex and Christen and they didn’t flinch, Servando and Tobin didn’t try to kill me after the game, so it must have been innocent enough, right? Still Sonnett has been acting a little...strange. Well stranger than normal I should say. I just don’t understand why.

We have been so close for the past few years and have been friendly even longer. I’d call her my best friend if I wasn’t worried she’d laugh in my face or worse, if Alex ever overheard. She was one of the few people who was there to help get me through my breakup for Christ’s sake! Being back in Atlanta over the holidays was not my original plan, but training with her, and on occasion Mal, really helped me heal. We would grab dinner at our favorite places after working out, or she’d come over and watch a movie at my apartment. Things were like how they had been during the world cup, easy, fun, carefree. Granted she didn’t know my girlfriend and I had broken up. She didn’t know that I was healing, but that made it all the better. Sonnett wasn’t walking on eggshells around me like my family or Alex or Allie were. She was just being her same bubbly self and making me laugh left and right. Things were great between us, until January camp, that’s when she started acting funny towards me. Going back to how she acted before we got so close. 

I think it could just be how she's responding to the Orlando trade. It would shake anybody up to have to drop their life and move across the country. Maybe she is acting weird around everyone? What do you think? I did first notice it the day the trade was being announced so the timing makes sense. Allie and I were in our room when Sonny knocked on the door. I had told her to come hang after breakfast. 

“Welcome Sonnett, come on in.” Allie greets the younger girl at the door. I’m sitting on my bed working on my daily crossword puzzle when I feel Sonnett sit on the edge of my bed. 

“Sup Son.” I give her a nod and look at 16 down, “Hey do you know what a ‘knight mare’ is?” When I don’t hear an immediate answer I look up and see Sonnett’s soft smile. Only it’s a little different than usual and her eyes seem sad as she says,

“The trade’s getting announced today.”

“Oh. How are you feeling about all of that?”

She looks like she’s going to answer me but is startled by Allie screaming,

“We’ve gotta match!!”

“Huh? What are you doing over there Allie?” Sonnett asks curiously.

I can’t help but groan as I turn to grab a pillow to bury my face in. 

“Oh just working on getting our little Kelley a hot date.” Sonnett gets up to see what Allie is doing on my phone and I can feel myself getting heated

“I don’t need you or that stupid little app to get me a date Allie. I can get one all on my own thanks.”

“You keep saying that but it’s literally been months since you two broke up and I have yet to see it happen.” I throw the pillow I'm holding at Allie’s face but she manages to dodge it.

“Kelley, what the fuck, you’re on tinder?” Sonnett has finally caught up with our conversation and has seen what’s got Allie so excited.

“Technically it’s Allie who’s on tinder, not me so…”

“And you and your girlfriend have been broken up for how long?”

“Two months,” replies Allie most unhelpfully. I send her a quick glare before meeting Sonnett’s eyes. Allie gets the hint and decides to go see what Pinoe is up to. She’s out the door quicker than I’d imagine and suddenly it’s just me and Emily in the room. Suddenly I’m wishing Allie was back, because this is not the conversation I want to be having right now.

“Kelley…” Sonnett repeats.

“Okay yes fine. Yeah we broke up before the holidays.” I reply rather sheepishly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Asks Sonnett. She looks a little hurt so I do my best to explain, but can’t quite keep an edge out of my voice,

“Because, everytime I told someone they just- well they would treat me differently! I wanted to tell you, I promise, but then I thought about how Alex and my family and everyone who knew was acting like I was delicate or broken, and I- I just wanted to feel normal, and I was able to, around you. I know it’s kind of selfish but I just didn’t want that to change.”

“Oh.” She replies, and now she’s the one who sounds small as she continues, “It’s not selfish. Not really anyways. It’s your life and you should be able to tell people when you want to, or when you’re ready I guess.”

“So you’re not mad?”

“Of course I’m not mad Kelley. Er I guess i’m just surprised that’s all.” She says as she sits back down on my bed.

“Oh thank God. So...” I say, trying to go back to our earlier conversation, “how are you feeling about it all?” I ask her.

“What- I’m not- I don’t feel- I don’t have any feelings about it!” She replies in a quick rush and I can see her face starting to get red. Strange. Why is she getting so defensive about this?

“What do you mean you don’t have any feelings about it? How can you not? This is a huge change for you!” 

“It- it is?” She asks me, looking completely wide-eyed and surprised.

“Are you kidding me Sonnett? Of course this is huge for you! You’re moving across the country and changing teams. There’s a whole new city to learn and a new team dynamic to fit into.” I explain to her, wondering how she could have not had these thoughts.

“Oh! You mean the trade?”

“Yes Sonny the trade, the trade, what did you think I was talking about?” I ask, very confused as to why she isn’t following our conversation.

She pauses for a second and plays with her bun, a thing I know she does when she’s nervous. After a beat she takes a deep breath and says,

“Sorry I knew you meant the trade, I just got confused because I’m tired I guess.” She shrugs off the last few words. Her explanation doesn’t fully make sense to me so I give her a look but she doesn’t offer up anything else.

“Okay” I say “but you know I’m always here for you right? You can always talk to me if you want to.”

Sonnett looks up at me and for a second I think she might retaliate. Might say something like ‘oh because you always talk to me about important stuff such as oh I dunno, breakups.’ Which, would be fair, I think. But she doesn’t say anything like that. Instead she just sighs,

“Yeah, I know. Thanks Kel.” And gives me a small smile. “It’s steed by the way.”

“Huh?” 

“You asked me what a ‘knight mare’ is, and it’s a steed.”

“Oh right. Thanks!”

She stays in my room to help me with the rest of the crossword but things are different. I noticed it the rest of camp and even once we left. Sonnett’s just been, well she’s been shy around me. Which is unlike her. And it has to be because of the trade. I mean she told me she wasn’t mad about the whole breakup thing and she wouldn’t lie to me about that, right? Yeah it’s gotta be the trade stuff. It’s the only answer that makes sense. 

I don’t like to admit it, but it bothers me more than I think it should to have Sonnett acting distant. If she’s this nervous about the trade she should just talk to me. I do have some experience with being forced to move across the country to locations you’re not exactly thrilled about. Don’t get me wrong, Salt Lake City has been surprisingly decent. Still, if I could choose i’d live somewhere with a beach and waves and the possibility of post-practice surfing sessions.

I wish Sonnett would talk to me about all of this so we could just go back to being normal. As it is though, I guess I should just be happy that today at least, she seems to be acting herself around me. She was willing to face me in flip cup and no one forced her in that position, so that’s promising. I even got a couple of laughs out of her before being pulled away to celebrate the victory with my team. 

I can see her now talking to Ash and Pinoe and she must be acting normal because only Sonnett can make people laugh as hard as those two currently are. Yes, maybe I get a little jealous because I want to be included too. I want Sonnett to want to talk to me and to make me laugh like she usually does, but hasn’t been recently for whatever reason. So I decide to join in. I’m excited to finally, finally, be included in Sonny’s shenanigans again, that is until I hear what they’re actually talking about. 

Sex. And Sonnett. They’re talking about Sonnett having sex. Okay well not exactly, but they’re implying that that is a thing she sometimes does and it’s all burning in my ears. I know it’s only a matter of time before Ash or Pinoe drag me into this, so I stear Sonny away as fast as I can towards a safer conversation. I take it as a good sign that she hasn’t shrugged my arm off of her shoulder yet. Maybe she didn’t feel as awkward in that conversation as I did. I mean hopefully she didn’t feel as awkward as I did. 

Of course she didn’t feel awkward. She’s not the one who’s had a stupid crush for years. A stupid, persistant crush. A crush so insanely obvious that the rest of the team picked up on it within days of me and Sonnett knowing each other. I know Sonnett picked up on it too. I mean she must have. I would flirt with her relentlessly (still do if i’m being honest) because I just couldn’t not flirt. I tried, I tried so hard to behave myself, but it’s just always been too difficult around her. 

She’s never flirted back though, not really. She always deflects everything with humor. I can take rejection. It’s not the easiest thing for me to do, but I learned to handle the way she would make jokes or tease me. It’s not that she doesn’t like me as a person, it’s just that she doesn’t like me in that way, and that’s totally okay. It’s not a good idea to get involved with teammates anyways, so really it’s all for the best. The part that stung the most was I could kind of tell she was holding back on me. It makes more sense in retrospect, she knew I had a thing for her but didn’t feel the same way, so she just always kept me at a bit of a distance. But it seemed like we had gotten past all of this years ago so I don’t get what’s changed now? 

I drag Sonnett over to Alex because I need to get out of my head for a bit. 

“Thank God you guys are here.” Alex says, noticing as we approach. “I swear if I wasn’t so excited about this child growing inside me, I'd be crying everyday because of how much I miss this team. I guess I still cry almost everyday, but the doctor says it’s normal and it’s just because of the hormones.” Alex finishes with a little wave of her hand. I take a look at Sonny and can see she is equal parts excited to see Alex and also a little concerned at what Alex just said. I give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before moving my arm down her back so that my hand rests on her hip bone (what? My arm was just getting tired I swear!). I feel Sonnett stiffen slightly at the change in position but she doesn’t step away or shrug me off so again, I take it as a win. 

“As dramatic as always I see.” I tell Alex but then send Servando a knowing look. He doesn’t say anything back to me, but the look he is sending my way all too clearly says ‘you have no idea.’

“Who me? Please Kelley I’m never dramatic. Besides shouldn’t you be thanking me for letting the team have this gathering at my house in the first place? Instead you come over to insult me.” She scoffs.

“It’s hardly an insult if it’s true” Sonnett chimes in.

Alex points to the door and then deadpans at Sonnett “Out. Get out Son.”

“Oh stop giving Sonny a hard time Alex. You know the real reason we’re here is because you wanted to ride on the bus with us on our way to the press conference this afternoon.” 

“That may be true but still, you could be nicer to your incredibly pregnant friend. I might have to reconsider this whole godmother business...”

“You wouldn’t dare.” I say seriously.

“Try me O’Hara.” Alex says with a grin that would normally have me jumping on her back, but since I don’t want to hurt her or the baby (mostly the baby) I restrain myself. 

“Fine. Thank you ever gracious Alex for welcoming us into your home today.”

“That’s more like it.”

“Hey do you have anymore photos from the last ultrasound?” Sonnett asks.

“Do I ever!” Alex whips her phone out and I reluctantly take my arm away from Sonnett so we can huddle around Alex’s phone. 

When we do finally get on the bus Alex sits next to me like always. 

“What’s been up with you today Kel?”

“Hm?” I respond. I was hoping that no one noticed how in my head I had been all afternoon but it’s hard to get anything past Alex. 

“Come on, cut the crap Kelley. You and I both know that those gears in your noggin have been working overdrive all day!”

“Okay, okay you’re right just, can you not shout about it?” A few teammates' heads have turned to see what has their captain so fired up.

Alex nods so I try to explain,

“It’s- well it’s nothing really. Sonnett has just been acting kind of distant with me and I don’t know why or what I'm doing wrong.”

“Well have you talked to her about it?”

“Not directly no. I mean I’ve given her plenty of opportunities to talk but you know how she is.”

“Yeah I think you’re going to have to be pretty direct Kel. This is Sonnett we’re talking about. And before you stand up for her, I just mean she’s not always the most in touch with her feelings.”

I think about what Alex is saying and nod a bit in agreement. Sonnett is really smart but has a little bit of a mental block when it comes to dealing with emotions. 

“Okay so what do you think I should do?”

“I don’t know. You say she’s being distant, how?”

“Well we don’t text or hang out as much as we used to.”

“Okay, and have you asked her to hang out a bunch and she keeps saying no?”

“Well not exactly…”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I could just tell that something was off between us so since January camp I haven't really asked her to do anything or texted her much.”

“So your strategy for dealing with Sonnett acting distant was to go and act distant yourself?”

“When you say it it sounds stupid.”

“That’s because it is stupid Kel! Sorry, sorry, indoor voices, I forgot. Seriously though, just see what she’s up to tonight and try to hang out with her like you usually would.”

“Yeah that’s actually a good idea.”

“Of course it’s a good idea, it came from me. Now give me an earbud.”

Alex spends the rest of our ride being DJ, and I spend the rest of the ride thinking I should have talked to Alex sooner. She may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but she’s a damn good friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thinking of having a few cameo POV's in future chapters. Thoughts?


	3. No, I Mean Yes, I Mean Ugh. - Lindsey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horan coming in clutch.

“Hey bus buddy!” I grin over at Sonnett as she sits down next to me. 

“Hey weak link. Ow- what the- Lindsey! Let go of me!”

“No way Dasani” I tell her as she struggles to get out of the headlock I've put her in, “Not until you take that back”

“It’s not a dis Linds, it’s just the facts. You’re kind of terrible at flip cup.” She says a little too calmly for my liking, considering the position I have her in.

I take the arm that’s not currently wrapped around Sonny’s neck and start to tickle her mercilessly. 

“Hey, stop that, this is not fair, you know all of my ticklish spots!” She whines.

“Take back what you said and I'll stop.” I can feel her struggling for breath between laughs so I know she’s about to give in. I ease up for just a second so she doesn’t actually pass out, before poking her in the ribs again and resuming my tickling. 

“Fine fine, okay” she relents, “you’re not the worst on the team.”

“Hm not exactly the answer I was looking for, but since I don’t want you unconscious, i’ll give it to you.” I say, releasing her.

“You weren’t that close to knocking me out.” She mumbles, rubbing the back of her neck.

“I dunno, you seem pretty red in the face to me. Or are you still blushing from all the time Kelley had her arm around you this afternoon?”

Sonnett quickly glances around, checking to see if Kelley heard, but Kelley is wrapped up in conversation with Alex.

“Don’t you want to know who the worst is?”

She wants to change the subject. Normally I would push her more but considering we’re on the bus with teammates all around us, I let it slide.

“I already know who the worst is…” I reply. We look at each other for a beat before both replying,

“Press”

We both lean back in our seats laughing. Don’t get me wrong. Christen Press is one of the best people on this planet. On the soccer field, her gracefulness and calm manner make her dangerous, but that doesn’t seem to translate to drinking games. Her constant string of ‘oh gosh- oh jeez- almost had that one-’ tends to slow her down and doesn’t really match the pace of the rest of the team screaming in her face to ‘hurry the fuck up’ before receiving death glares from Tobin. 

Sonnett lets out a sigh like she’s been holding in a breath all day, and maybe she has. I saw how nervous she was the entire time she was with Kelley. The slight edge of her jaw, and how she kept making joke after stupid joke to try to distract herself, as much as anyone else, from her other feelings. Sonnett’s been pulling back from Kelley, shying away from her. I think it’s a self defense mechanism. The problem is, Kelley’s noticed. She’s noticed Son being awkward with her and flinching away at her touches. I can tell because anytime it happens, Kelley’s face falls for a fraction of a second before she’s plastering on her signature smile and pretending nothing is different. 

I don’t bring it up again until we’re back in our hotel room. Somehow we are lucky enough to be roommates for the second leg of the tournament. Maybe Vlatko just feels bad for us since she’s moving to Orlando next month and knows how much we are both dreading it. Part of me doesn’t want to bring it up considering everything else she’s dealing with, but she and Kelley both look so miserable when they think no one is watching. I just can’t take much more of it. I not so subtly blurt out the question,

“What’s going on with you and Kelley?”

“What? N-Nothing. Why do you ask?” She looks like a deer in the headlights, eyes as wide as I’ve ever seen them. For a second I think about dropping it. It would be the easier thing to do and is clearly what Sonny wants, but I’m not here to go easy on her or to be nice. I’m here to be her friend, and right now she needs to be pushed on this. 

“You know what I mean Dasani. You’ve been giving Kel the cold shoulder up until today. Then, even when you were hanging out with her, it looked like you were about to have a heart attack any minute.” I pause to give her space to answer. When she doesn’t I soften my tone and continue,

“Is this about the crush you have on her?” Sonnetts eyes go, if possible even wider, but she doesn’t deny it. She looks at the floor and gives me the tiniest of nods. She looks so small and so defeated that it rips my heart in two. I go over and wrap her up in a tight hug. I feel her body tense at first, but after a second she relaxes into the hug and it’s like I can feel all of the weight she’s been carrying fall off her shoulders. 

“You know it’s okay to have a crush on a teammate Son. Besides, you told me about this crush years ago, and you and Kelley have gotten really close anyways. I don’t really understand what’s changed?” She lets out a breath and we both sit down on her bed.

“Firstly, I’m not really sure that it is okay to have a crush on a teammate, but I know you’re just going to tell me that you can’t control your crushes so I’m moving on from that one. Second, When I told you about my crush, Kelley and I really weren’t that close, remember?” I nod my head because I do in fact remember how reserved Sonnett used to be with Kelley. 

“I mean yes we were teammates and all, but I would purposely only hang out with her in groups and tried to keep things professional, because it would have been too hard to be friends with her and manage my crush. Too hard to not mix the feelings. You know how touchy Kelley can be, even just with her friends, and I didn’t want to read between the lines when there was nothing to really read into anyways.”

I hold my tongue, even though I’ve always thought Kelley might carry a soft spot for Sonny that’s not strictly platonic. Yes she flirts with everyone, it’s just her personality, but she’s always acted just a little bit different with Sonnett. It wouldn’t be detectable if I hadn’t known Kelley for so long, but whenever she’s with Sonnett she is just the tiniest bit softer, tiniest bit more serious. That is of course, until she’s not. Sonnett doesn’t seem to notice my internal conflict as she continues,

“When Kelley had a girlfriend, there was absolutely nothing to read into, no confusing mixed signals. Everything was just Kelley being Kelley, so it was easy to get close and become real friends. Only…”

“Only she broke up with her girlfriend.” I finish for her. She sends another small nod my way. 

“So now…?”

“So now I have no idea how to act around her. How to be such good friends when her general Kelleyness, you know her flirting and her touchiness, stir up all of these confusing feelings in me... What?!” She half asks half yells at me. I don’t blame her though, my jaw must be on the floor it’s open so wide. I just don’t ever remember Sonny talking about feelings, or emotions in general before. I rack my brain for a second to see if maybe I’m forgetting a past conversation, but nope. In the four years I’ve known her, Emily Sonnett has not once openly talked about her feelings with me. Even when she first told me about her crush on Kelley all those years ago she somehow managed to keep her feelings out of the conversation. Sure feelings were implied, but not implicitly stated. I don’t want my shock to deter our conversation though so I quickly recover before replying,

“Nothing, it’s just, this is really getting to you, isn’t it? I mean obviously I knew something was bothering you because you’ve been way more awkward than usual,” She mumbles a ‘jeez thanks’ but I pretend not to hear it. “But I just assumed you were in your head about something and needed to talk it out.”

“I just-” she sighs, “ I just don’t know what to do. I know I need to do something though because I can’t carry on like this.”

“I think you should talk to her.” Sonnett openly scoffs at that idea.

“How would I even begin to do that? ‘Oh hi Kelley. I know we’ve become really good friends but I’ve secretly been harboring a crush on you for the past four years. Don’t worry though everything’s totally under control. I just need you to not touch me or make me laugh or do any of the things normal friends should be capable of doing, and we’ll be fine.’”

“So you’re just planning on avoiding her forever then, even though you’re on the same team?”

“That’s plan A, yes.”

“I’d think of plan B if I was you.”

“Trust me, I've been trying.” 

We both let out a sigh of frustration. It’s not directed towards each other, more so that the conversation didn’t really get us anywhere. I know Sonny has reached her capacity for seriousness because she starts to fidget and checks her phone. I save her the agony of continuing the conversation by switching the topic. 

“Hey do you want to come to dinner with me and Sam?”

“Thanks Linds, but Ashlyn and Ali want me to grab a bite with them tonight. I’m a little worried they’re going to try to haze me.” She’s mostly joking but I know her well enough that I can see the slightest hint of real panic in her face.

“Nah I wouldn’t worry about that. We’re in tournament mode so they can’t get up to anything too crazy.”

She looks reassured as she grabs her wallet and room key.

“Yeah you’re right. Thanks Linsdey. You really....er well just thanks.” I know she’s thanking me for more than just reassurance about dinner, even though she can’t seem to find the words to say it. I’m just glad she seems to be feeling a little better even though nothing’s really fixed.

“Anytime Son. See you back here for movie night later? I hear Rose brought every Harry Potter film with her.”

Sonnett just laughs and nods as she heads out the door. 

I spend the next few minutes getting ready for dinner myself when I hear a knock on the door. I grab my key and start to head out as another, more persistent knock sounds. 

“I’m coming Sam keep your pants on. Oh. Hi Kelley.” Well this is not who I was expecting. 

“Hi Horan. Is Sonnett around?”

“Um you must have just missed catching her in the hallway. She’s off to dinner with Ashlyn and Ali.”

“Oh.” Her face falls and it takes her longer than usual to recover, “Do you know when she’ll be back?”

“Uh, I don’t know the exact time, but we’re watching a movie with Sam and Rose later and she said she’d be back for that.”

“Ah I see. Well, will you tell her I stopped by?”

“No.” I say, an idea popping into my head.

“No? You won’t tell her?”

“No I won’t tell her. You should tell her when you come hang out with us tonight.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I don’t want to crash your movie night.”

“You’re not crashing if you’ve been invited, and I’ve just invited you, twice now.” Kelley looks brighter but still doesn’t say anything. She’s rocking kind of nervously back on her heels. God these two are hopeless. 

“So…” I prompt her.

“So?” 

“Jesus Kelley! So you’ll see Sonnett tonight, yeah? Unless you have some other big plans?”

“No. I mean yes. I mean ugh. No I don’t have any other plans and yes I’ll see her tonight.”

“Glad that’s settled. Now if you don’t mind, I’m late for dinner.” I say as I step around her and close the door behind me. I’m not sure if Sonnett will be happy I invited Kelley, or if she’ll want to kill me. Probably the latter but it’s looking like these two idiots are going to need all the help they can get. Besides, even though Son would like to think otherwise, we all know there’s no way she’d actually beat me in a fight.


	4. You're Absolutely Perfect - Sonnett

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Movie night

Rose wasn’t kidding. She did in fact bring every single Harry Potter film. Abby was forced to watch the first one with her last night so we put on the second movie. Sam and I are lounging on my bed while Rose, Lindsey, and Andi are snuggled in Lindsey’s. I’m already regretting the decaf coffee I ordered at dinner when we start the movie. I only make it 20 minutes in before having to get up and go to the bathroom. When I head back to the room I see that someone else has joined the party, and that someone else is now sitting on my bed. Kelley is leaning against the wall while Sam has scooted closer to my nightstand, leaving a spot for me inbetween the two of them. I feel my face go red at the thought of sitting next to Kelley for the remainder of the movie (goddammit why does Harry Potter have to be so long?!). In order to stall a bit more I quickly make a joke.

“Where on earth did you come from? I was only gone for like 90 seconds. Have you been hiding somewhere this whole time?” I say while pretending to check out various hiding spots around the room. Hey so it’s not my best but like I said I’m just trying to stall here.

“Shut up Dasani. You’re making us miss the movie.” Lindsey growls at me.

“Yeah, cause it’s not like you’ve seen it before or anything.” I mutter rolling my eyes. 

I sit down in between my two teammates and Kelley turns to look at me.

“Hi.” It’s not her usual loud and rowdy hello. This greeting is soft and calm and accompanied with a gentle smile. I can’t help but smile back as I say,

“Hey you. Didn’t know you were a Potterhead?”

“Well I actually stopped by earlier when you were gone so Lindsey invited me to hang with you guys tonight.”

“Did she now?”

“Yeah...that’s okay right?” 

“Yes of course!” I say too quickly. I’m blushing again I can feel it, so I turn my head back towards the movie.

“Why’d you stop by earlier anyways?”

“Hm?”

“You said you were here earlier and talked to Lindsey, why’d you stop by?”

“Oh.” If I didn’t know better I’d say Kelley was the one blushing now. But I do know better. She must just be warm from all of the body heat. I know I sure am. “Oh, I just wanted to see what you were up to tonight is all.”

“Gotcha.” It’s all I trust myself with saying, but I admit, it’s a lame response. We both turn our attention to the movie and I can’t help but feel uncomfortable as we watch.

The worst part is Kelley’s close again. How does she keep getting so close? This time there’s no table separating us. Actually there is very little separating us. Maybe just a few inches and oh, just kidding. The scene with the spiders just came on and Kelley’s startled jump just eliminated those few remaining inches. 

“How does this scene still get you? You’ve seen this movie like a hundred times.”

Kelley doesn’t answer my question, instead she maneuvers my left arm so that it is thrown over her shoulder and snuggles into my side saying, in her best Ron voice,

“Why spiders? Why couldn’t it be follow the butterflies?” I can feel her smiling against my side. I let out a nervous laugh and pray that she thinks it’s because of her terrible joke. 

Kelley’s right hand is on my leg right above my knee. She must be pretty comfortable because she starts to mindlessly trace little patterns with her fingers. I say mindlessly because there’s no way she’s consciously aware of what she’s doing. She can’t be. For one, she continues to quote the entire rest of the movie at near perfection. And two, if she was aware then that would mean- would mean. Nope don’t go there Sonnett. It wouldn’t mean anything. Oh great. Now she’s toying with the hem of my shorts. Okay breathe. That’s right you can do this. Thank God my shorts are long because if Kelley’s hand goes any further up my leg I’m going to die right here. They’d likely attribute it to a freak accident or something, but I would know the truth. Death by Kelley O’Hara is now a real concern of mine. She finally, finally stops tracing her fingers but her hand stays resting on the space just above my knee for the rest of the night. I’m not sure how anyone can hear the movie over the sound of my pounding heart, but nobody comments.

“You and Kelley seemed pretty cozy.” Okay I spoke too soon. No one makes a comment except for Lindsey, and not until everyone else has left the room.

“D-did we?” Great sound more uncomfortable why don’t you? 

“Don’t worry. I don’t think anyone noticed.” I give her a nod and then remember who invited Kelley there in the first place.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you did, Horan.” She tries to play innocent by giving me a confused look but I cut to the point, “I know you invited Kelley tonight and I know you found a way to make sure we sat next to each other.” 

“What if I did do those things, huh? What’s so bad about it? You and Kelley did fine. You were both getting each other to laugh, and you didn’t pass out despite Kelley basically feeling you up.”

“So you noticed that too?!”

“No I actually couldn’t see the two of you at all, but thanks for confirming my suspicions.” She says looking far too pleased with herself.

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t. You love me and I love you and that’s why I invited Kel over tonight. You guys need to work this out, and in case you didn’t notice this was the most you’ve hung out all tournament, and you didn’t even blush, well that much.” I pause and think about the night. Lindsey was sort of right. I mean the whole ordeal had been complete torture for me, but it was the closest i’d let myself get to Kelley since I found out she was single, and I don’t think she noticed me acting strange for once. Maybe, just maybe Lindsey is on to something. If we keep hanging out like we used to maybe I’ll get used to managing my crush again. It’s at least worth a shot because Lindsey’s right, avoiding Kelley indefinitely is never going to work. I think I’m going to have to stop calling her the Great Horan and start calling her the Wise Horan. Although, she is pretty great too.

…

If I thought things couldn’t get any worse I was wrong. 

I keep going in and out of a restless sleep for what feels like hours. Eventually I give up and go to the bathroom in a haze. On my way back to bed I hear a soft tap on our door. It’s after curfew so the knock surprises me. I look through the keyhole before opening and can’t believe my eyes. I must be dreaming because Kelley is standing outside the door. I open the door and she puts a finger to her lips telling me to stay quiet as she grabs my hand and leads me towards the stairs. 

She takes me up to the top of the staircase and opens the door onto a small rooftop. She shoves a brick in the door so we don’t get locked out and then walks over to the railing at the edge of the roof. It’s warm out, I mean we are in southern California afterall, and the roof is overlooking downtown. It looks nice all lit up. If I wasn’t still foggy from sleep (or lack of it) i’d realize how romantic this spot really is. 

I go to join Kel over at the railing and we just stand there for a while. It’s nice, I think. Being up here with her and just feeling relaxed. It’s how it used to be before my brain went and fucked everything up. I think a couple more minutes must go by, but I’m having trouble keeping track of time so I’m not really positive, before Kelley finally speaks,

“Why are you avoiding me Em?”

I gape at her. It is too late (early? Again no concept of time here) for me to have to use my brain in any capacity, let alone for this. The use of my first name doesn't slip past me. Even in my tired state I recognize that Kelley has only ever called me by my first name a handful of times after being introduced. It’s something to latch onto, and must be why I respond,

“Mm, I like it when you call me that.” She seems equal parts annoyed that I ignored her question and amused at my answer.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I say with a shrug “It-it just sounds nice when you say it.”

“Noted.” She pauses for a beat before sighing, “Emily, why are you avoiding me? Is it- am I doing something wrong?” She’s not angry, she just sounds tired, or maybe sad?

“No, no you’re not doing anything wrong! You’re absolutely perfect.” Okay apparently my brain has no filter when sleep deprived. 

“Please Em, I’m hardly perfect. I barely pass as human most days.” I can’t contain the scoff that escapes my lips. Kelley sends me a questioning look so I elaborate, 

“I highly doubt that you, with your gorgeous eyes, cute freckles, and hot bod (oh my God did I really just say that, yep, guess I did) have trouble passing as human.” She’s taken aback at first. I can’t blame her, I’m just as surprised as she is that I actually admitted that. She seems to think for a second before she’s wearing a mischievous grin as she says,

“You think I’m hot? Emilly Sonnett have you been checking me out?” 

“Please Kel, I’ve seen the Body Issue, okay? The whole world has seen it and the whole world knows that you’re hot.” She smiles brightly at me for a minute before looking sad again. I really really hate seeing her like this and it kills me to think that i’m part of the reason she feels this way. Maybe that’s what gets me to be honest.

“I’m sorry Kelley,” I sigh. “I know I’ve been, er, kind of distant lately. I just- I don’t really know how to act around you since I found out about your breakup.”

“Why should my breakup change the way you act around me?”

“Because now you’re single.”

“But what does that have to do with- oh.” She pauses mid sentence and I know I'm holding my breath, waiting for her to put two and two together. I’m really banking on that Stanford brain of hers to get there because I don’t know that I can say anymore without dying from mortification. 

“Oh.” she says again, when her brain has caught her up. Then something happens. I see her body relax and can feel her mood change as much as I can see it on her face. Her lips are turning up into a dangerous smile and her eyes seem to get a shade darker as one more low ‘oh’ escape her lips. She steps towards me and I automatically take a couple steps back, heading closer towards the building. It doesn’t deter her as she continues,

“So you’ve been acting funny around me because I’m single now?” 

_Step_

I manage to give a slight nod.

“And you’ve already admitted to thinking I’m hot.”

_Step_

I only groan a little before nodding again. Her smile gets even wider.

“So...what I’m gathering is that you have a crush on me.” It’s not a question. 

_Step_

She has me completely backed up against the building. I turn my head from left to right looking for a way out of this before thinking through if I really want a way out. Regardless there’s nowhere to go. I gulp for air, accepting my fate, and give her one last nod.

_Step_

Her lips are an inch away from mine as she says, voice sly and low,

“Well...what are we going to do about it?”

All I can think is, I want her. I want her so bad, and I want her right here, right now on this damn rooftop. I want her so much that I'm losing all sense of reality. All I can take in is her warmth and a dull ringing sensation. Wait, what the-? There’s ringing in my ears. No like actually. There’s persistent loud ringing in my ears. What the hell is that? 

I hear Lindsey groan from the bed next to me as she gets up to shut off her alarm. It takes me a second to gather myself, to realize what happened, what I just dreamed, before I can process anything. Then all I can think as i let out a groan is,

“Fuck.”

I turn to grab my phone and see that I have two texts. My stomach drops when I see who they’re from.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.) I know the whole "it was all a dream thing" is pretty cliche, but it plays into the next chapter nicely so I couldn't help myself, sorry :)
> 
> 2.) I've got a road map for how this is all going to go down. In terms of format, im thinking of doing a teammate POV chapter for every set of Sonnett/Kelley chapters, but this may vary depending on the direction the plot goes. I make the rules and then break them per usual.


	5. So You Were Looking At My Ass Were You? - Kelley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kelley tries to calm Sonnett down, but it doesn't seem to be working.

I’ve got a plan.

No really! I’ve come up with a plan to get Sonnett more comfortable with me again and I think it’s foolproof. If I can just show her how comfortable I am with her, how much I trust her, and how much I like hanging out with her, then maybe she’ll feel like she can open up to me again. She just needs that reassurance that I like hanging out with her. I mean I get it, I can be pretty intimidating, or maybe overwhelming is the better word? Whatever, all I’m trying to say is that operation spend time with Sonny is in motion. I’ll prove it, I’ll text her right now.

**Kelley:** _Rise and shine Sonny :)_

**Kelley:** _Feel like grabbing coffee with me?_

**Sonnett:** _..._

See, perfect. She’s already typing back! Oh. Well she was typing and then the three dots disappeared. Maybe she sent it and it’s just taking a while to come though, wait- oh damn. Those pesky dots are back. Okay well that’s fine, I’ll just get ready and then see what she says in a minute. 

**Sonnett:** …

Oh come on! I thought she’d have responded by now. She never takes this long to answer. Ugh finally.

**Sonnett:** _Ew, how are you already so awake?_

**Kelley:** _So is that a yes for coffee?_

**Sonnett:** …

**Sonnett:** …

**Sonnett:** …

This is getting ridiculous. 

**Kelley:** _Or not? No worries if you have plans or just don’t want to go?_

I set my phone down so I can grab my wallet because coffee sounds good to me even if I have to go alone. I hear my phone chime but I’m surprised by who the text is from.

**Horanimal:** _Sonnett and I will be joining you for coffee. Be downstairs in 5 or we’re leaving without you._

That’s strange. Why wouldn’t Sonny just text me herself? I mean, it’s not a big deal that Lindsey’s coming. She probably saw Em texting and wants coffee too. Ugh I don’t know, maybe everyone is just off because we haven't had caffeine yet.

When I get down to the lobby Sonny and Lindsey are already there waiting for me. As I approach I can see them having what appears to be a rather serious conversation for this early in the morning. Lindsey’s back is to me, but I can see Sonnett’s face and it looks stressed out. She keeps nodding at Lindsey and saying things like “okay okay, yeah, you’re right.” At least I think that’s what she is saying. I could be misreading her lips I guess. When Sonny finally sees me come up she looks at me with wide eyes and stops talking mid-sentence. I look over my shoulder because I assume whatever has her looking so spooked is behind me, but when I turn around I don’t see anything. Lindsey’s noticed Em’s strange behavior and turns to see what Sonnett is gaping at. 

“Oh hi Kelley.” Lindsey addresses me. I see her nudge Sonny in the ribs.

“Mo-morning Kel.” She squeaks out at me.

“Hey guys. What were you looking at Sonnett? You seemed pretty freaked out. Is everything okay?” She takes a deep breath, but then her usual manner is back.

“Oh yeah thought I saw a ghost or something, but then I realized it was just your pale ass. We gotta get you out in the sun more Kel.” I laugh as I throw my arms around each of them and march them outside.

“So you were looking at my ass were you?” I joke, playing into our usual banter. Lindsey laughs along with me, but Sonnett seems frazzled again as she trips over her feet. I grip her shoulder tightly to prevent her from falling as she stutters out,

“That’s not what I meant, it’s just an expression! I couldn’t even see- you know because you were walking towards me- so how could I have meant-” 

“Relax Dasani. We’re just giving you a hard time. Right Kel?” I nod at Lindsey but can’t help but wonder what is going on inside Emily’s head. Lindsey talks most of the rest of the way to the coffee shop, more chipper than she usually is in the morning. 

When we get to the shop, I motion over to an empty table in the corner and tell Lindsey and Sonnett to go grab it while I get us coffee. 

“You don’t have to get our drinks.” Sonnett says, but I brush her off and Lindsey pulls on her arm to bring her over to the table. Maybe Lindsey will be able to calm her down since clearly I’m doing a poor job. 

When I get to the table the younger girls are talking about who they think will start in the next game. It’s easy to join in even if I start to have nerves about whether or not I’ll be playing. Thankfully we mostly discuss who we think the starting forwards will be. We’ve almost finished our coffees when Lindsey’s phone goes off. 

“Oh my mom’s calling me. I’ll just be outside for a bit.” Lindsey says as she gets up from the table. I see her sit down on the bench in front of the storefront window that looks into the coffee shop. I take a glance at Sonnett and see her playing with her napkin. She’s folding it, and unfolding it, over and over. 

“Hey.” I say, more hesitantly than I usually would “Emily are you okay?” I was going for a softer, calmer tone than usual since Sonnett seems distressed, but this appears to be the wrong approach. She looks up at me quickly before looking back down and saying,

“Yep, of course! Never better haha.” She lets out a nervous laugh at the end, which is new. I’ve never really heard her laugh like that before. Actually, I’ve never seen her be _this_ nervous before.

“Hmm” I muse out loud, giving her time to answer. She takes a minute, and I see her take several deep breaths like she’s forcing herself to relax before she says,

“You called me Emily.”

“Huh?”

“Just now, you called me Emily, instead of Sonnett.”

“Oh well, yeah. That’s okay right? To call you Em, Emily?” She just shrugs as she says,

“Sure I guess. It is my name after all. It’s just, you usually call me some variation of Sonnett, so I don’t know, like why the sudden change?”

“Just... trying something new I guess.” Truthfully I thought it might help put her at ease, make her realize I care about her, and that she can confide in me. It seems to have had the opposite effect though. 

“Unless it bothers you?” I ask her. I don’t want to do anything that makes her even more tense, although it might be too late for that.

She takes time to think about it before answering. Then she does something kind of strange. I can’t be positive, but I swear I see her pinch herself... Before I can demand to know what hell is going on with her, she’s shaking her head,

“No. It doesn’t bother me. You can call me that.”

“Are- are you sure? I mean I definitely don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable? If you prefer I call you Sonnett I totally can.” God, why am I being so awkward? This is even worse than when I first started trying to talk to girls. I only stop rambling when Emily leans forward and rests her hand on my forearm.

“Kel, it's okay. Really. I- I actually kind of like it when you call me that.” She says smiling softly at me. I start to grin widely at her.

“I mean not _all_ the time obviously.” She sort of backpedals “like on the field it’d just be weird to hear my first name, but if you want to call me that on occasion its- its okay by me.” She finishes kind of nervously again. I remove the smirk on my face and replace it with a kind smile. 

“Okay sounds like a plan Em.” I hold her gaze and she gives me a soft, genuine smile. I don’t realize that her hand is still resting on my forearm until Lindsey sits back down at our table and Emily instantly jumps as she pulls her arm away. If Lindsey notices, she doesn’t say anything. 

As we walk back to the hotel I think about my conversation with Em. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the way Emily’s first name feels rolling off of my tongue. It makes me feel closer to her somehow. It’s exactly what I needed. With all of the strangeness that’s been between us lately, this feels like she's given me permission to be close with her again.

We all ride the elevator up together, cracking up at the various memes Sonnett shows us. I’m still laughing as I drop the two of them off at their room. I keep walking down the hall as I look over my shoulder and, adding a wink for good measure at the end say, 

“See you later Lindsey, Em.” With a wave of my hand I’m off, but not before noticing the raised eyebrow Horan gives Sonnett at the use of her first name. Yeah, I’m definitely going to have some fun with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so I have the next chapter and a half pretty much ready to go, but I want to get some of the later chapters firmed up before posting, so it might be a minute. Goal is to update sometime next week.
> 
> Bonus points to anyone who caught onto why Sonnett pinched herself.


	6. Oh Shit - Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonnett confides in Rose.
> 
> Or
> 
> Two "oh shits" for the price of one.

Sonnett has been in my room all night. I’m a little surprised she isn’t hanging out with Lindsey considering they’re roommates, but I’m not complaining. Without the others here to disrupt us we’re able to choreograph three new dances in just two hours. Abby is hanging with Crystal and Julie tonight. I think she didn’t want to get roped into watching another Harry Potter, but that’s her loss really. Sonnett is laying on Abby’s bed as I go over to put in one of the movies.

“So I know we’ve gone only through the fourth movie but I kind of want to skip to the last two. What do you think, _Emily_?” I emphasize her name to make sure it gets her attention.

Sonnett throws a pillow at my face as she says,

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why not? Kelley calls you that. I don’t see why I shouldn’t.” Kelley had, in fact, gone out of her way to call Sonnett by her first name all day long. I just assumed Sonnett had lost a bet or it was some kind of private joke between her and Kel, thought I might get in on the fun. To my surprise Sonnett’s face turns a deep shade of pink.

“Just don’t.” She grumbles.

“Fine I won’t if you tell me what’s going on between the two of you? You’ve been acting really funny around her and not in a good way.” I expect her to deny it. To tell me I’m being absurd. At the very least I expect her to make a joke about it, but I do not expect this,

“I had a sex dream about Kelley last night!” 

“Wh-what?!” I scream as my hands jump to my face and cover my mouth and nose. “You had a dream about Kelley? A  _ sexy _ dream?” Sonnett looks petrified but nods excessively. We both stay silent for a minute before I ask,

“Was it good?”

“I- I don’t know.”

“You don't know! How can you not know? What happened in this dream?” She gets up to pace around the room as she explains what happened. How Kelley took her to the rooftop and figured out that she had a crush on her. How Kelley backed her up against the building and was about to make a move.

“Then Lindsey’s alarm woke me up and I’m still deciding if I’m grateful that it went off before things could escalate, or if I’m going to smash her phone while she’s sleeping tonight. What? Why are you laughing so hard at me??”

“Because, Son, only you would manage to have a sex dream with absolutely no sex in it, not even a little kiss! I mean what kind of steamy dream is that?” I get another pillow thrown at me for that, and can hear Sonnett’s quiet laughter at the ‘oof’ I let out when it hits me square in the stomach. 

“Fine, I will let the non sexy sex dream stuff slide Son, but when are you going to tell Kelley you have feelings for her?” Again I expect her to fight me on this, and again I’m surprised when she says,

“I don’t know.” she sighs and walks over to collapse on my bed. “Part of me just wants her to figure it out so then she can choose whether to make a move or friendzone me. I mean if she knew I had a crush on her and didn’t feel the same way, she would lay off the flirting I think, and that would help me get over all of this. But the other part of me is too afraid to let her know about my feelings because what if she feels all awkward around me and it affects our friendship?

“It wouldn’t Sonnett.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Yes, I can actually.” She just glares at me so I continue,

“Ugh fine, as much as I like to tell you otherwise, you’re kind of really great, and Kelley knows this. I think she might even be at the top of your fan club. She’s always sticking up for you when we try to give you a hard time, and you should see the way her face lights up when you walk into the room or when she opens a text from you. Even if she doesn’t like you as more than a friend, there’s no way she’d let your friendship suffer over something like this. Besides, she’d probably be all flattered that you have a crush on her.”

“Okay, say that I believe you on that stuff, I still don’t know how I would even begin to talk to her about it. We’re almost always surrounded by other teammates, and even when we are alone, we’re usually trying to focus on the next big game.” 

“I think you’re just making excuses, Son. Do you want me to help you come up with a plan to tell her?” She rolls her eyes at me. 

“No I definitely do not want your help with that.”

“Okay, alright, you don’t have to say it like that. I just thought I’d offer, trying to be a good friend here.”

“I know.” She says more softly. “Thanks Rose.”

“Yeah well don’t get too used to it. I much prefer being the cool, badass friend over this mushy, nice one. ” I manage to dodge the third pillow she throws at me and then we’re both laughing as I get up to start the movie. 

…

I keep an eye on Sonny and Kelley for the next few days. Partially so I can keep making fun of how awkward Sonnett is, but mostly because I’m trying to be a good friend and get a read on the situation. Okay so maybe the spread is more like 70/30 make fun of Sonnett/be a good friend, but who’s counting anyways?

I don't notice much until the semi-final game against Mexico. Sonnett and I are lacing up our cleats when Kelley comes over. Kelleys’s got the start today, but she looks less confident than usual. Instead of coming over and jumping on us like she normally would, she just gives me a half assed slap on the butt and pats Sonny on the back saying,

“You guys ready?” I nod at her and adjust my pre-wrap trying to get into game mode, but I notice Kel looking right at Sonnett. Her face shows how nervous she is and she’s clearly over here hoping for some reassurance. Thankfully Sonnett isn’t completely oblivious and stands up straight to face her.

“Yeah we’re ready. How about you Kel?” Kelley gives a quick nod but Sonnett and I both see the big gulp of nerves she’s trying to choke down. 

“Hey” Sonnett says quietly. She gives Kel’s shoulder a squeeze. “Hey you don’t need to worry Kelley, you’re going to play great. Remember what you always tell me? You’ve earned this spot, okay?” Kelley looks a little bit more reassured but still goes in for a hug. I see Sonny flinch at first but when Kelley just holds her tighter, she relaxes and throws both arms around the smaller defender. 

“You’re gonna play great Kelley, I know it.” Sonnett says, and I see her give another squeeze before releasing Kelley. Kelley seems better, and has more of her regular confidence back as she says,

“We’re all gonna kick ass. Right Rose?”

“Damn right!” I say in agreement. Kelley starts to walk away, but I see her place a hand on Sonny’s arm as she says,

“Thanks Em.” Sonnett nods back with a soft smile,

“Anytime Kel.” I want to tease both of them, but I’m not sure I was supposed to hear that part of the exchange. I wait until Kelley has moved on to hyping up Tobin before I turn to Sonnett and, crossing my arms, raise an eyebrow in her direction.

“What? What’s that look for?” Oh so she’s trying to play innocent is she? We’ll just see about that. 

“That was different.” I tell her smoothly. 

“Different how?” She eyes me.

“Just seems like Kelley is leaning on you more than usual, you know, more than she did before the break up. I wonder why she would do that?”

“I- I dunno? She’s probably just nervous like she said.”

“Of course she’s nervous you ding-bat! She feels like she’s on the bubble because of her ankle. What I mean is, why do you think, out of all the people in this room who care about her, she chose to come talk to you?” Sonnett looks at me utterly bewildered as she asks,

“What on earth is a ding-bat?” 

“Focus Sonnett!” This girl, oh this girl knows how to test my patience. 

“Fine.” She whisper-yells at me “So maybe she did come over here knowing I’d help her with her nerves. Just because she wanted me to calm her down doesn't mean anything other than that we’re teammates who support each other.”

“But that’s what I’m trying to tell you, it could mean more! Did she go to Tobin, or Press, or Kriegs or any of the people who she’s known for years longer than she’s known you, no. She singled _ you _ out.”

“Technically you were there too.” I toss my hands up in the air at this.

“Oh my god! I was basically a fly on the wall and you know it! I could have told Kelley that I still thought the earth was flat and she probably would have agreed with me for all the attention she gave me. She was focused on you the entire time, Son.”

“I’m sure if Alex or Allie were here she would have gone to them instead of me.” 

“Sure, yeah, completely ignore everything I just said.” I say rolling my eyes.

“We’re close but we’re just friends Rose. There’s nothing to read into, even if I maybe wish there was.”

“She likes you Sonnett. You’re just too afraid to accept it.” She looks at me. Her expression is a little angry, and a  _ lot  _ stubborn, but before she can say anything else we hear Becky calling us out to the field. 

“Come on, we’re gonna be late for warm ups.” I’m not really ready to let this drop, but we do have a game we need to win. This will just have to wait until after.

...

It’s after the game when we’re all in the locker room that I see it.

Kelley and Sonnett are over in the corner. Sonnett seems herself for once and is telling a funny story. Julie and Crystal are with them and they’re all laughing at Son’s antics, but Kelley is doing more than laughing. Kelley is looking at Sonnett and it’s not just any kind of look. It’s the same look I’ve seen Ali give Ashlyn. It’s the same look I give Whilma after being away for weeks. It’s the same look- oh shit. Kelley caught me staring at her. 

I’m expecting her to raise an eyebrow at me, or maybe throw a smirk my way. Instead I see her cheeks flush. She gives me a bashful smile and looks quickly at Sonnett and then at the ground. She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear and then looks back at Sonnett again. It’s enough to make me want to vomit. Kelley’s as smitten as they come and it’s written all over her face. How Sonnett doesn’t see this is beyond me. 

I look around to see if anyone else is getting ready to hurl at these two with their heart eyes, and sure enough I see Lindsey staring at them, mouth slightly ajar. I walk over and give her a little nudge while asking,

“So what are we going to do about them?”

“Who?” She’s kidding right?

“This- them- you know who.” Lindsey sighs.

“So you noticed too, let’s talk about this later Rosie.” She’s looking around the locker room to make sure no one's paying attention to us. Thankfully most of the team is too excited about going to the Olympics to be giving us any thought. I nod at Lindsey and let the subject drop, but now that I’ve seen it I can’t unsee it. Kelley looks adoringly at Sonny all through the rest of the night, keeps up the heart eyes during breakfast the next morning, and even steals a few glances during practice. It’s enough to make anyone nauseous. 

When I find Lindsey alone in the training room after practice I can’t help but bring it up.

“Okay they’re seriously a problem. I wasn’t even able to keep down my oatmeal this morning because I was too busy gagging at the way Kelley would laugh at Son’s stupid jokes, or the way Sonnett turned three shades redder when Kelley’s hand brushed hers while reaching for the pepper.”

“Yeah why do you think Sam and I both got up to go to the bathroom at the same time and then never came back?” 

“Nice, way to leave me there stranded Linds.” She just shrugs at me and says,

“It’s every woman for herself these days.” I ignore her comment.

“I just don’t know why Sonnett’s being so stubborn. She is absolutely adamant that Kelley doesn’t like her, and she won’t listen to any reasonable arguments stating otherwise! I mean have you tried talking sense into her? It just goes nowhere!”

“Believe me, I know. I’ve been trying to help them along, but Sonnett refuses to talk to Kelley about it. Every time I bring it up she mysteriously goes deaf until I change the subject.”

“Urg but you know she’s being ridiculous! I mean Kelley’s not going to care, she’ll probably be thrilled to find out Sonnett has a crush on her.”

“What did you just say?” I hear the familiar voice ask as my heart stutters to a stop. 

Oh no. Oh no no no no! I lock eyes with Lindsey and mouth “Oh shit!”

Sonnett’s going to kill me...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.) My gf and I low-key love Rose Lavelle as a player, so thought I'd give her character a chapter.   
> 2.) Also apologies to anyone who's not a huge potterhead like me. I will dial down the references from now on but had to throw in a few for good measure.   
> 3.) Finally shout out and thanks to those who have left feedback. It really is a motivator so I appreciate it.


	7. What Was That? - Kelley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kelley makes moves, which end with a bang- just probably not the kind she'd intended.

“Hey Kel, what are you doing here?” Rose turns around and tries to cover up what she just said. For a second I think about going along with it, but my curiosity beats out my fear of the answer. 

“Forgot my water bottle...so who has a crush on me?” I ask Rose, because there’s no way I heard her correctly, there’s no way that could actually be true.

“Uh- uhm- What was that Sam? Coming!”

“Sam’s not here, idiot.” Rose fires a death glare at Lindsey for spoiling her attempted escape. She looks back at me and waits one more second, before high tailing it out of the room faster than I’ve seen her chase after cute dogs on the street. 

I turn to glance at Lindsey. She has her arms crossed and is giving me a look. It’s challenging, and defiant, and it makes me hesitant to ask again, but I have to know. I muster up my courage and hope my veteran card will finally be worth something as I ask her,

“Sonnett, Em, she- she likes me?” Okay so not the confident tone I was going for. Lindsey waits a beat before shrugging her shoulders and says,

“You should ask _her_ Kel.” It’s not a confirmation, but it’s not a no either. My voice sounds small even to me as I reply,

“Ask her?” She nods and gives me a gentle smile.

“Yeah, just ask her Kelley. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.” 

I don’t ask her though. Not at dinner when she sits across from me, not in Sam and Julie’s room when the whole team hangs out and plays Uno, not even at the end of the night when I walk with her down the hallway and say goodnight before heading to my room.

I just don’t want to bring up something like this before the final game tomorrow. I mean that wouldn’t be fair to anyone, to have all these emotions going into a big game. It’s not because I'm chickenshit or anything, no way. 

I just think it’d be better to talk to her after the game when we’re hopefully out celebrating. Yeah that’s a much better plan. Because what if something goes wrong? Maybe Lindsey and Rose don’t know what they’re talking about, or maybe Sonnett changes her mind, or denies it? I mean that kind of stuff can happen! Anyways just because someone has a crush on you doesn’t mean they want to like date you necessarily. It could just be a “friend crush”. It might not be like fully fledged hot and heavy feelings you know? 

Flat out asking her probably isn’t the best approach. Maybe I should try to get a better gauge of her true feelings before asking? Yeah, I like that idea. I can try flirting with her more and if she reacts to it, then I’ll ask her about said “crush”. I mean, I'm good at flirting, really good, the best even. If Sonnett’s even remotely into me I should be able to get a reaction out of her, or at least get her to flirt back for once. Alright it’s settled, tomorrow after the game I begin operation flirt relentlessly with Emily. Forget soccer, I should have gone double-oh-seven. 

Now if I can just figure out how to get me, myself, and I to shut up, I might be able to get some sleep. It’s easier said than done. 

**...**

“Geez Kel, you look terrible.”

“Thanks Tobin.” Always one to speak her mind, that girl is.

“I just mean you’ve got dark circles under your eyes. Did you have trouble falling asleep?”

“Yeah I... just had a lot on my mind I guess.”

“Oh cause of the game?” Of course Tobin thinks the only reason could be soccer, but today I’m not complaining. I give her a nod and she shrugs her shoulders at me.

“I know you wanted the start Kel, but I’m sure you’ll get the next one. Just take this time to recover like Vlatko said.” She’s one to talk. I know how much not starting must be bothering her as well, but I definitely don’t want to tell Tobs the real reason I had trouble sleeping.

“Yeah.” I agree with her “I’ll try. You doing okay too?” I ask her. I know that as much as I wish I was starting, no one on the team wishes she was starting more than Tobin. She looks sad for a minute, but just shrugs again and says,

“Yeah I’m fine. Hey at least we get to watch our girls together.” Yeah, I think as I nod at Tobin. Wait, what? 

“Our girls?” I ask her, lowering my voice so no one else can hear. 

“Yeah.” She looks at me like I’m stupid. “You know, Chris and Sonny.”

“Sonnett and I are just friends Tobs, just friends.”

“Okay sure Kelley, whatever you need to tell yourself so you can sleep at night. Oh wait, how’s that working out for you again?” I’m shocked, completely speechless. Which is rare for me. Tobin takes my bewildered silence for nerves and says,

“Relax Kel. Your secret is safe with me.”

“But there is no secret. No really!” I say at the look Tobin shoots my way. “Nothing’s happened, we’re really just friends.”

“Does _she_ know that?”

“I think _she_ would be the first to know if we were more than friends!”

“Do you really? Well I think it’s time to show her.”

“Show her?”

“That you’re more than friends.” I turn to glance at Emily. She’s talking with Sam and stretching her arms above her head. This causes her shirt to rise up just enough to see her lower abs. I feel my mouth go dry, and turn away to tie my shoes. Okay maybe Tobin has a point. I don’t think I can keep this to myself much longer anyways.

“Fine.” I nod at her. She looks surprised, but her tone is instantly much more upbeat as she asks,

“Really, you’re going to?” I nod at her as confirmation and see her punch the air in excitement.

“About time, I’ve been waiting for this to happen for years.” With that she stalks off, leaving me to finish getting ready. Seriously, years? Hmm maybe Tobin should think about being a secret agent too. 

The locker room is starting to empty out. I see a chance and decide to go for it before I chicken out. Emily is still tying up her shoes as I tap her on the shoulder. She looks up at me and smiles, her voice only a little bit shaky from nerves,

“Hey Kel.”

“Hi Sonnett. You feeling ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She adds a laugh at the end but I catch her face falling just a fraction. I pull her into a tight hug.

“You’re going to be great,” and turning my head to kiss her cheek say, “You always are Em.” When I pull away I know I have a smile plastered on my face. It takes a second, but then Emily is mirroring my expression and I see it. I see the way her neck, ears, and cheeks get red. I feel the slight shudder course through her body. Instead of waiting for her to respond, I give her a reassuring squeeze and then let go of her. Taking a few steps towards the pitch I wave her over.

“Come on, let’s go do this.” She just nods at me, still red all over, and follows. 

Maybe the kiss was a mistake. Not on my end, I mean, I loved seeing the way it got Sonny all flustered. But maybe it would have been better to stick with my original plan and wait until after the game. If fricking Tobin hadn’t opened her mouth, but whatever, it’s done, can’t do anything about it now.

It’s just that Sonnett seems...distracted. She’s not playing very smart, and literally tripped over nothing a second ago. Sure it was cute to watch her do a little backwards somersault, and yes I may have laughed along with the rest of the sideline once she let us know she was okay, but I don’t want to affect her playing. I know how hard she’s worked to get here, and I don’t want to do anything that might jeopardize that. I’ll just have to check-in with her after the game and make sure we’re still good. 

Apparently I shouldn’t have been so worried. When we hear the final whistle blow, I’m running towards my teammates. Son and I are on the same side so she’s one of the first players who I wrap into a hug.

“We did it!! We fucking did it!” I can feel her laughter running through her body as she throws her arms around me. Then, to my surprise, I feel Sonnett press a quick kiss to my cheek. 

“We sure did Kelley, we sure did.” I’m beaming at her, but before long Abby and Julie are hugging us too. We break apart to celebrate with the rest of our team, but not before sending one more glance towards each other. Things feel different between us. The kind of different I could get used to. 

**…**

After the celebrations in the locker room, the team rushes back to the hotel. Everyone showers and gets ready quickly before meeting up in the lobby to continue the celebrations out on the town. For some reason we let the youngsters pick the venue, so that’s how we wind up stepping into a clubby bar on the west side of the city. The team is finally allowed to celebrate the proper way tonight, with copious amounts of beer. I’m about to head up to the bar to grab one, when I feel something cold pushed into my hands. 

“Here, this is for you.” Sonnett says, clinking my glass with hers. 

“You bought me a beer?”

“Yeah well, you got my drink the other day so just thought I’d return the favor.”

“Coffee is not the same as a drink, Son.”

“Are you refusing my beer Kel? Because if you really don’t want it I’m sure I can pawn it off on someone else.” I smile at her before I tilt my head back and start to down the whole thing. Sonnett’s lips begin to turn up into a smirk as she asks, voice lower than normal, 

“Thirsty?” 

I choke. Badly. Did she- Did Sonnett just flirt with me?  
  


Thankfully Sam pulls Sonnett over to where Rose and Abby are harassing the DJ, so she completely misses my sputtering. As she walks away I can’t help but check her out. She looks good tonight. Don’t get me wrong, she looks good all the time, but tonight she looks reaaaaally good. I have a feeling Lindsey may have coached her a bit in the wardrobe department, so I make a mental note to be extra nice to Linds tomorrow. Sonny’s wearing a black dress that’s fun and flirty, along with her signature white slides. It’s the perfect mix of casual and sexy. Hm, maybe that beer is hitting me a little bit harder than normal. I guess I did chug it so that make’s sense. I see a group of my teammates sitting in a booth along one of the walls and head over to join them.

I sit down and again someone is putting a beer in my hands.

“Here Kel. Drink Up.” Says Ashlyn as she scoots into the booth with Ali. Ashlyn apparently bought a round for the table as I see the others grabbing beers from her. Pinoe gets the table to sing, and before long I see Becky (of all people I know, I’m just as surprised as you are) carrying over a round of shots. Correction, make that three rounds of shots. 

“What?” She asks as the whole table sends a questioning look her way, “One round for qualifying, one round for Crystal’s 100th cap, and one round for winning the whole damn tournament!” I love seeing Becky this excited. 

“Ou- Where’s my shot at?” Pipes in Crystal, who clearly heard her name as she walked up to see why 30 shots materialized at our table. Always thinking ahead, Becky managed to snag a bowl of limes to help get the drinks down.

I’m talking with Crystal and Pinoe when Ashlyn snorts with laughter. The whole table looks her way as she explains,

“Sorry it’s just- look!” She motions to the dance floor where the youngsters have cleared out a section for themselves. Rose, Sam, Lindsey, Abby, and Sonnett are all acting like complete fools and not caring in the slightest. 

“Oh my god Rose! That is not how you twerk!” I hear Julie shouting from behind me. 

“Alright y'all,” I say as I scoot out from the booth, “Let’s go show them how it’s done.”

**…**

I share an uber back to the hotel with Sonnett, Rose, and Lindsey. I end up in the middle seat because the other three all claim “longer legs” as an excuse. I don’t mind though because the cramped seat lets me lean into Em’s side without needing much of an explanation. Rose is in the front seat chatting away with the driver, and Sonnett is being quiet for once, seemingly lost in thought. I lean my head on her shoulder and close my eyes for most of the drive. After a few minutes I feel Sonny rest her hand on my leg. It’s a small gesture, but it still sends a smile across my face. 

Sonnett helps me get out of the car when we get back, and the four of us make our way into the lobby. I think about the night. About how close we were before and after the game. About how Son bought me a drink. About how we danced closer than what’s considered “strictly platonic”. I hang back a little bit before we get to the elevators, my liquid courage kicking in.

“You alright Kel?” Sonnett asks me. She takes a step toward me when I don’t answer right away, and I see Lindsey and Rose turn around.

“Yeah, uhm, I’m fine. Would you- can I actually talk to you for a second?” Sonnett looks confused and doesn't answer right away, but I see Lindsey smile and give me a little nod of encouragement, so I don’t take my words back as I wait for her answer. 

“Uh sure Kel.” I blink at her a few times and nod. Then I reach for her hand and pull her towards the courtyard that is down the hall from the lobby. I hear the elevator ding as Lindsey says,

“Come on Rose, let’s go.” 

“But I want to-” 

“Nope, get in.” I hear Rose grunt like she’s being pushed into the elevator and Lindsey’s faint “You can ask her about it later” as we walk further down the hall. 

The courtyard is empty and dark when we get there, but it’s warm outside and there’s a few benches with pillows on them. I pick one in the middle of the courtyard and wait for Son to sit down. We’re both a little drunk. Okay so maybe me more so than her (Hey she’s got a couple of inches on me, of course her tolerance is going to be higher!). Normally I can hold my liquor fine, but something about being around Sonnett makes me feel more drunk than usual. 

“So you wanted to talk to me?” Sonnett’s question brings me out of my head a bit. She looks a little concerned but is sitting closer than she needs to be, so I use that to fuel my confidence.

“Yeah, right, uh.” It should be easy to ask her. I mean it’s not a big deal either way. I should just spit it out, and then I'll have my answer. I take a breath before blurting out,

“Were you flirting with me tonight?” Okay so not exactly the question I was aiming to ask, but at least it’s in the same ballpark. 

“Uhm, well, were you flirting with me?” Oh I see what you did there Son, trying to turn the question back on me. Smooth, very smooth, good thing I know a thing or two about playing it-

“Uhm yeah, I’m always flirting with you, Em.” Oh shit, so much for smooth. Damn you liquid courage, you’ve gone too far! I feel my face turning red at the admission, but it’s out there and I can’t take it back. 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah” I say meekly.

“But, why?”

“Why?! Are you kidding me?” She looks at me dumbfounded, and I can’t take it anymore. I lock onto her eyes and lean in. I see her hesitate for a fraction of a second, before she shifts and meets me halfway. I cup her cheek as my eyes close and press my lips softly but firmly to hers.

I pull away more quickly than I'd like to, but I need to gauge her reaction. I need to know if she’s about to cuss me out, or (dare I let myself dream of this possibility?) if she’ll let me kiss her again. To my surprise, her eyes are soft, and she has a wide smile on her face as she says,

“Oh. What was that?” she says as she giggles. It’s quick but I don’t miss it, she actually giggles. It is the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard, and I can’t help myself as I lean in to kiss her some more. This time she doesn’t hesitate. This time _she’s_ the one bringing a hand to my face, before shifting around and running her fingers through my hair. It’s more than I expected, more than I’d let myself hope for, and has more of an effect on me than any kiss ever before. 

Time and space melt away, and I feel a slight tingling in all of my limbs. When I’m finally able to check back into my surroundings, I realize I’m straddling Sonnett, and she’s got both of her arms around me keeping me anchored in her lap. 

Then out of the darkness, we hear a loud crash. It startles us both, and Sonnett breaks the kiss,

“What was that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this was technically supposed to be a "Sonnett" chapter, but I did warn you I wouldn't stick to my own rules. Hopefully an extra long Kelley chapter will make up for it. 
> 
> Next chapter is a teammate POV and then we will pick back up with Sonnett.
> 
> As far as teammate POVs go, I think there will be two more in this story. One is already kind of set, but the last one I'm still working out, so I'm open to suggestions!


	8. Guilty As Charged - Krashlyn (aka Ashlyn's POV feat. lots of Ali)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drinks, discoveries, and dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy game day!

“Let’s get lit ladies!” I scream at the top of my lungs as I grab Ali and drag her onto the dance floor with the rest of the team. We’re all feeling those shots Becky brought us, and no one is holding back. I catch myself laughing as I see Crystal showing off her moves and Julie trying to keep up with her. The youngsters are, of course, all taking turns grinding up on each other. Even Alyssa is trying to get down as Kelley teaches her how to floss. 

We dance for about an hour before Ali is pulling on my wrist to take a breather. She sends me over to our now empty table, as she tries to finagle the bartender into giving us a pitcher of water. I do what I always do when I find myself in these types of situations, and begin to people-watch. As I scan the bar I see that most of our team is working on getting another round of drinks. Becky is drinking something that looks way too blue to be good for her, and I see Abby and Lindsey trying to convince Sam to take a body shot off of Rose, who is already lying down on a table.

There are a few stragglers still on the dance floor. Carli is showing Alyssa how to nae nae (turns out Alyssa is surprisingly good at it), and Kelley and Sonnett seem to be practicing one of their choreographed routines. When the song changes to  _ Low _ by Flo Rida, Kelley switches gears and starts to back up into Sonnett. It’s nothing new, Kelley has been grinding with people all night, Sonnett has too for that matter. What is a little strange is the way Sonnett goes stiff as a board when she realizes what Kelley is doing. Kelley doesn’t seem bothered though as she reaches to pull Sonnett’s arms around her. Son looks like she has no clue what to do with herself for about two more seconds, before pulling Kelley closer and getting  _ really _ into it.

My thoughts are interrupted as Ali scoots into the booth, sitting so close to me she might as well be in my lap. 

“Sweetie, I love you, but you know that the entire booth is open? You don’t have to sit on top of me.” Ali sets the water down on the table before saying,

“But I wanted to do this.” She wraps her arms around me and leans in to kiss me deeply. 

“You’re right, personal space is overrated.” I assure her as I pull her in to continue making out with her. 

“Jeez love birds, get a room.” Pinoe laughs as she slides into the booth. 

“We intend to.” Ali quips back at her with a shit-eating grin. God I love my wife. 

Since we’re technically on “team-time” we don’t actually get a room. We do the next best thing and head back to the hotel early in the hopes that one of our roommates will be out late. We go to Ali’s since she is rooming with Kelley, and Kelley didn’t seem to be in a rush to leave the bar. 

Once the door is closed, I pin Ali up against it. She drapes her arms around my neck as I lift her legs around my waist. 

“I’ve been wanting to do this all night.” I tell her as I kiss her everywhere. She moans a bit into my kiss, and I carry her over to the bed. Celebrating a win with the team is fun, but we both prefer this kind of celebration. 

It’s twenty minutes before curfew as I slip out of Ali’s room and make my way to my own. We’re both a little surprised that Kelley isn’t back yet, but can’t complain because we made full use of the couple of hours of alone time. 

I decide to take the longer route back to my room to avoid seeing anyone in the lobby. The hallway I’m walking down has a glass wall that gives a direct view into the courtyard. It’s a nice night outside. I look up at the stars through the glass, before lowering my eyes and landing on a couple making out on one of the benches. Aw, cute. They must be out for a little moonlight tryst. 

I’m about to turn my gaze away and let them have their privacy, when I see the profile of the smaller girl. Holy shit,  _ Kelley? _ It is Kelley! But who the hell is she kissing? I try to identify who the other girl is, but all I can see is the back of her head, and it is too dark to distinguish any hair color. I’m scanning the scene looking for clues when my eyes fall on a bright white pair of shoes under the bench. I’d know those shoes anywhere.  _ Sonnett?  _ Kelley is making out with  _ Sonnett? _

I’m so engrossed in what I’m seeing that I pay zero attention to where I’m going. I don’t see the cart of food in front of me until it is too late. 

“Oof” I smash into it, and cause a loud clanging to ring around the entire hall.

“Shit on a dick!” I cuss as I bounce on the foot that I didn’t stub. 

“Fucking room service” I mutter to myself. When I look back up to see if Sonnett and Kelley spotted me, they’re already gone. They must have broken up when they heard the ruckus I was making. I shake off my stubbed toe and speed walk back to my room. The last thing I need right now is to get busted for waking up half the team this close to curfew. 

I tell Ali what I saw (Don’t judge me, of course I’m going to tell her! She’s my fucking wife and I tell her everything.), but I try to play it cool, waiting until we’re making breakfast back home in Orlando. I’m sitting on the couch drinking coffee and sketching, when I ask,

“Babe, did you notice Kelley and Sonnett acting strange at all this week?”

She looks up at me from where she is mixing pancake batter in our kitchen. She’s so friggin cute. I still don’t know how I got so lucky. She takes a moment to think about the week before responding,

“Hmm I mean not really. Sonnett is always kind of awkward, so there’s nothing new there. I guess Kelley did seem a little in her head for the first half of the trip, but she seemed like super happy the second half, so I’m guessing whatever was bothering her got resolved. Why do you ask?” 

It’s not worth beating around the bush, and I’m still a little shell shocked at what I witnessed so I just tell Ali,

“I saw Sonny and Kel making out after the final.”

Ali doesn’t look all that surprised as she lets out a sigh and resumes stirring the batter,

“Well it’s about time.” She says.

Here I thought I was dropping Earth shattering news, and all Ali does is shrug as if I told her it was going to be partly sunny today. 

“Really?” I ask her, incredulously “you saw this coming?”

“Yeah...are you saying you didn’t?” Okay now you look at me all disbelieving? But not before? 

“No! I did not see this coming at all!”

“Oh sweetie come on, they’re literally eye fucking each other all the time. Plus don’t you think they’d be cute together?” 

“I mean not as cute as us, but sure, they would be pretty cute.” I take some time to think about things before voicing my next question,

“Do you think we should ask Son about it? I mean we could offer advice with the whole ‘kissing a teammate’ thing, or should we let her figure this out on her own? I’m a little worried she’ll freak out if she finds out I saw them.”

“Yeah, I think there’s a pretty good chance she’ll be super embarrassed if she knew what you saw....but at the same time, do you really trust the two of them to navigate this on their own?”

“No. Not at all. They both think way too much for their own good. I guess we have to bring it up.” The last sentence comes out as a sigh.

“Yeah but we need to do it carefully. If we just ask her outright we might scare her. Ooooh! Why don’t we have her over for dinner when she comes down next week? As a welcome to the area sort of thing. We should probably do that regardless, but it could also be a chance to bring this up.”

“I like the way you think girly. Everything’s a little easier to deal with once you’ve got a belly full of food and wine.” I say as I sink deeper into our couch, cherishing my coffee and feeling confident about our plan. 

...

“You guys didn’t have to do all this” Sonnett grumbles. “I’m super grateful, but I hope you didn’t go through too much trouble for me.”

“Shut up and eat Sonnett.” I tell her.

“Besides, you gave us an excuse to finally use our waffle maker!” Ali exclaims.

“Still, breakfast for dinner? Seems like you two might be trying to spoil me.”

“Yeah well don’t get too comfy, we still have to put you through Pride team initiation.” Sonnett chokes a bit on her food. Hey it’s not my fault, you should see the size of the bite she’s trying to take down! Still, Ali gives me a look as she reassures Son,

“Don’t listen to the big bad wolf over there Sonny.” I grin at both of them, doing my best to flash my canines. We finish dinner and start bickering with Son to spend the night at our place.

“No it’s really okay guys, super sweet of you, but I should probably head home.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you don’t even have a bed at your place yet!” I yell at her.

“It’s getting delivered tomorrow. I think I can survive one night on my couch.”

“What kind of doofus moves without a bed?” I mutter mostly to myself, but I see Ali roll her eyes at me before responding to Son,

“We have a perfectly lovely guest bed for you here.” Ali chines in, “plus, it’s your first night in a new city. Do you really want to be alone, or with your new favorite teammates who are going to feed you candy and more wine?” She still looks like she’s hesitating, so I clap a hand on her shoulder as I get up to clear the dishes,

“Stay Sonnett. Really, we want you to hang with us.” This seems to finally quell her concerns that she’s inconveniencing us in any way, and she gives us a slight nod.

“There we go.” Ali smiles at her. “So what are we watching?”

We’re about half way through last week’s SNL, when a long commercial break comes on. It seems like Sonnett is finally relaxed so I ask,

“So Sonnett... what’s it like to kiss O’Hara?”

Sonnett spits out a spray of wine, thankfully we’re drinking Chardonnay. Ali runs over to pat her on the back and sends me a reproachful look. I just shrug at her and wait for Sonny to answer.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Well I sorta saw you two making out after the final. Seemed like it was going pretty well so thought I’d ask.” I see her cheeks start to go red and then something else registers on her face. 

“Wait, were you the loud clatter we heard?”

I raise my hand as I say “guilty as charged.”

“Dammit Ash, you scared the shit out of us.” I shrug at Sonnett and Ali decides it’s time for her to step in. 

“So what’s going on between the two of you, Sonny?”

“Nothing- er- well, I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it.” Sonnett deflates a bit as she adds “Kelley hasn’t brought it up, and she was kind of drunk so to be honest I don’t know if she even remembers it.”

“And you haven’t brought it up?”

“No way. I assume there’s a reason she isn’t bringing it up. Either, she doesn't remember it, or she feels like it was a mistake and just wants to pretend like it never happened.”

“Well is that what you want? To pretend like it never happened?”

“I-” Before Sonnett can fully answer her phone begins to ring, making all three of us jump. She glances at the screen and all of the color drains out of her face. Ali, always the concerned mother hen, looks down to see who’s got Sonnett looking ill, before looking back up with wide eyes. 

“Kelley?” Sonnett visibly gulps and nods in confirmation.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Answer her!”


	9. Way- Over- My- Head. - Sonnett

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignorance is bliss?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.) Had a few typos I wanted to fix in previous chapters so sorry if there were any double notifications or anything.

I’m going to kill Rose Lavelle. 

I’m not sure how yet, but I imagine quite a few ways as she rushes to string together apology after apology on the other end of the phone. I thought talking to Rose would be a fun break from all of the unpacking. I spent the first half of the day driving down and had just unloaded the last box from my car into my new apartment, when my phone rang. I assumed she called me to see how things were going and make sure I wasn’t too overwhelmed or getting too distracted. I was not expecting her to turn my entire world upside down.

“You told her WHAT?!”

“I know, I know, I completely messed up, but it was an accident, I swear.”

“And how exactly did you  _ accidentally _ tell Kelley that I have a crush on her? I’m finding that really hard to believe, Rose. Wait, when did this happen?”

“Last tournament, day before the final.”

“So Kelley has known about this for weeks now? She knew about this during the final and the celebrations?!?” And that, that gets my attention. Kelley has known about my feelings towards her for a while now and hasn’t acted any differently. In some ways I’m happy because clearly it hasn’t affected our friendship, but if she knows I like her and hasn’t made a move that’s not exactly promising either. 

Well okay, I guess she did do one thing different. She did kiss me after the finals, but she’d been drinking and she hasn't brought it up since, so i'm not sure if that was really a move. Maybe she even regrets the kiss? I probably wasn't any good- (editor’s eye roll) 

“Yeah, why?” Rose responds before I can spiral any further.

“We- nothing, never mind.”

“Sonnett! What happened after the game?”

“Like I’m going to tell you after all of this! No way, you’ve lost your privileges, Rose.”

“Oh come on Sonny, please? What are the odds I accidentally tell someone again?” I smile despite myself. I make her wait a little bit longer before giving in. 

“Fine, okay. At least this time Kelley already knows, at least I hope she does. I mean, she might not remember and maybe that’s why she’s still been texting me, still been acting the same as always-”

“Son, stop freaking out and tell me what happened.”

“We kissed.” I rush out “Kind of a lot, er- well, it was more like we made out on a bench for several minutes.” Rose stays silent for a beat before saying,

“Okay, so now that you can actually answer this question...Was it good?” I know Rose is wagging her eyebrows just from the tone of her voice. I want to tell her to “mind her own fucking business” but I can’t. My brain is too preoccupied with playing back that kiss; the way Kelley’s arms felt snaked around my neck, the slow roll of her hips on top of me once things started to escalate, the shallowness of her breath when we finally broke apart- 

“Sonny, you still there?” Rose’s words feel a little bit softer. I manage to nod, but then realize she can’t see me.

“Yeah.” It comes out raspy so I clear my throat, “Yep, still here.”

“Okay, so...it was really good then?”

“Yeah. It was good. It was awesome.” I can just picture the smirk spreading across Rose’s face so I add,

“This doesn’t mean I forgive you, just so you know. I still can’t believe she found out I have a crush on her from  _ you _ .”

“I know. You know I feel bad about that, right?”

“I do, and I also know how you’re going to make it up to me.” I hear Rose gulp through the phone as she asks, voice shaking,

“H-how’s that?”

“Remember when I lost that bet to you and you made me do that stupid dance every time you played ‘Move, Shake, Drop’? Well it’s payback time.”

…

Ash and Ali are too good to me. They make my favorite meal for dinner, and even let me pick what we watch on TV. It’s such a nice night. I didn’t even think about how much I miss Portland or Atlanta. Well, it was a nice night, until my phone started ringing. 

I can feel my face drain of color when I see Kelley’s photo pop up on my screen. I really need to start ignoring my ringtone. The worst part is I can’t try to hide who’s trying to facetime me because Ali’s already seen. Ashlyn runs behind me and immediately rubs my shoulders, like a coach does for a boxer in the ring. 

“You’ve got this Sonnett, it’s no big deal.”

“Babe, come on let’s give her some space.”

“We’re here if you need backup!” I hear Ashlyn yell as Ali drags her to the kitchen. 

I take a couple of deep breaths before answering.

“Hey Kel.”

We talk about normal things. She asks me how the move is going, and waves to Ashlyn and Ali when I tell her about spending the night at their place. I ask her about the book she told me she’s reading, and if she’s checked out the links to funny YouTube videos I sent her. I get her to laugh a couple of times, and she even wishes me “goodnight” before we hang up. I can’t help myself, I know I’ve got a grin plastered on my face just from talking to Kel for ten minutes. The crazy thing is, I might have spotted the same grin on Kelley’s face before she hung up.

It takes me a second to realize Ash is back on the couch, until my thoughts are interrupted by her interrogation,

“Girl what’s your vision? You need to get those eyes checked.”

“What?” I reply, confused.

“Anyone can see that Kelley likes you, so clearly you need glasses or some shit.”

“So much for giving me some space.” I grumble back at her.

“It’s not my fault we have an open floor plan! Besides, we needed to know if we should come in and save your ass.” Ali’s back on the couch now too, and per usual she’s the gentler out of the two as she says,

“It was nice of Kelley to check in with you, knowing that this is your first night after a big move and all.”

“I guess it was nice. Still, Rose, Lindsey, and you guys all checked in with me too.”

“Yeah but none of us want to bang you.” Ali slaps Ash’s arm for that one. “What?” She asks innocently. “I’m just saying, if Kelley isn’t interested in Sonnett, why is she going out of her way to ask how she’s doing? If she regretted kissing you, don’t you think she’d be avoiding you?”

“You’re assuming she even remembers kissing me.” Surprisingly, it’s Ali who chimes in with, 

“She wasn’t that drunk, Sonny.” 

“How do you know?”

“We were roommates, remember? I know she was a bit drunk at the bar, but the fresh air must have sobered her up.”

“Or the person she was sharing air with.” snickers Ashlyn. 

“Anyways,” Ali continues after rolling her eyes at Ash, “I asked her about her night, and she just smiled and said she had a great time. She might have been tipsy, but she wasn’t blacked out or anything.”

Jeez, finding out that Kelley knew about my crush when she kissed me was one thing, but learning that she most likely remembers it all only brings up the same questions with more force.

It’s too much to try to wrap my head around, so I just don’t. I spend the next few weeks making my place feel homier, and I focus on working out and running drills. I spend my nights with Ali and Ashlyn, or facetiming anyone other than said person that I’m definitely not thinking about. I fill a whole notebook full of palm tree sketches (there’s a lot of them in Florida, you see) and completely reorganized my music library. 

Sure, Kelley and I text. She even calls me a couple of times and we talk for a bit, but I make sure to keep things light and funny, and don’t let myself dwell on all of the unanswered questions swirling around in my brain. 

I just, I want to have time to analyze how I feel when we’re hanging out in person. I think things will become a lot more clear when I can see how she acts around me after everything. If she’s more flirty or less flirty, if she seems touchier than usual, if she tries to kiss me again... Things like that, preferably the latter, will make it easier to determine where her head’s at.

This is what I tell myself everyday until the She Believes Cup. I’m actually really excited to be seeing my friends again so soon. It’s made the move way easier knowing everyone would be in Orlando with me, kind of like a large welcome to your new home party. When I get to the hotel lobby, I see Sam looking at rooming assignments. I run up and give her a hug from behind,

“Tell me we’re rooming together Sammy.”

“Uhm no, actually you’re rooming with-” Sam’s response is cut off when someone else barrels into both of us.

“Hey roomie.” 

Sam steps on my foot to indicate that I need to respond.

“Who, me?”

“Yes you, silly. Come on.”

Suddenly, I’m rethinking this whole “spend time with her” plan. Suddenly, I’m thinking that this is way more time than I’m ready for. Suddenly, I realize I’m in way- over- my- head. 


	10. "But Next Time Say 'Please'" - Kelley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kelley's thoughts post-kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a crazy time. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! I'm working towards a deadline this next week/with the general upheaval the world is in I'm not sure when the next update will be. Aiming for in about a week but here's an extra long chapter in the meantime.

My alarm blares at 4:30 AM. I’m able to shut it off before Ali wakes up, but I see her stirring a bit in bed, so I try to get ready as quietly as possible. I make it to the airport in time for my 7am flight to LA. I promised Alex I would spend a week with her after the CONCACAF tournament since we both know how busy things will be in the spring. 

When I make it to baggage claim I see her and Servando already waiting for me. I run over and throw an arm around each of them. Serv helps me with my bags, and I immediately start asking Alex about all things baby related. When we get to their house Serv takes my bags to their guest house (I know right, they have a guest house, so cool!), and Alex and I head to their pool to lounge before lunch. She asks me about the team and the tournament, and I know I’m being slightly too enthusiastic about everything. I’m laughing a little too freely and much too loudly, but I can’t help it. I’m still basking in the post-kiss afterglow from last night. Finally, after thirty more minutes of my absurd behavior, Alex cracks. She looks at me with a scrutiny that I've seen very few others master.

“What’s gotten into you Kel?” she eyes me up and down, “You seem extra chipper, even for you. And while I’m sure you’re absolutely thrilled to see me, I don’t know if it warrants this much cheerfulness.” 

Part of me is happy that Alex sees through me so easily, because I’ve been waiting all morning to tell someone about me and Sonnett. The other part of me is nervous of Alex’s reaction. She knows how long I’ve had a crush on Son, and she’ll know this was more than just a random thing for me. I don’t know if I’m really ready to deal with what all of this means, but Alex can read me like a book. She’ll be able to tell if I’m lying to her, so I know I have to give her the truth.

“I kissed Sonnet!” I basically shout at her.

“What? You mean you finally made a move on her?”

“Yeah” I tell her, not fully able to keep the smugness out of my voice.

“Aw, Kelley! It took you long enough, but I’m proud of you.” I can hear the sincerity in her voice and it makes me beam even more. Alex switches into girl talk mode and wants to hear how it all happened. I oblige. When I get to the steamy stuff I notice my heart rate pick up.

“God she was sooo good, Alex. It’s like I can still feel her-”

“Alright, alright, I get the picture, she was good, it was hot, that will suffice, Romeo. What did she say after?”

“After?”

“After the kiss! Did you grow a pair and tell her how you feel about her?

“Oh, uhm, well...”

“You guys did talk about it right?” When I don’t answer her right away she raises her voice a little,

“Right??” Both of her arms are now flapping, and I know my response comes out small.

“Not exactly, no.”

“KELLEY!”

“It’s not my fault! We couldn’t, not really. We were making out and it was wonderful, but then we heard this loud noise. It startled us both so we just kind of went off quickly towards our rooms without getting the chance to talk about it.”

“Okay well what about now?”

“What _about_ now?”

“I see no reason why you can’t call Sonnett and discuss this like adults, Kelley.”

“I am not gonna talk to her about this over the phone! This is the kind of thing I need to do in person. I need to be able to see her reactions so I can gauge her feelings or whatever.”

“Uh, hello, FaceTime?”

“You’re not going to let me out of this are you?”

“Nope. Not a chance.” She’s true to her word, but she’s also sneaky about it. She doesn’t call me out again like the first night, yet every time she sees me on my phone she asks who I’m texting. Thankfully most of the time it’s family or Christen, but the few times I answer Sonnett, Alex just says, “Hmmm” and gives me a look. I know I won’t be able to pacify her until I talk to Em.

It’s my second to last night in LA when the chance presents itself. Alex and Servando have an LA Galaxy event, and while they ask if I want to join, I tell them I’m fine staying in. Alex seems almost happy at the idea, and sure enough before they leave she looks me straight in the eye and says,

“It better be done by the time we get back.” I just nod at her and tell them to have a good time.

“You’re not making her do chores, are you?” I hear Servando ask as Alex ushers him out the door.

“What, no babe. Although, that’s not a bad idea”

“Hey!”

“What Kel? Gotta earn your keep somehow.” I just shake my head at her, and toss a wave over my shoulder at the pair of them. 

“Make good decisions!” I call out as they leave. Before Alex closes the door she turns back to me and deadpans,

“I should say the same to you.”

It takes me another thirty minutes after having the house to myself to work up the nerve to FaceTime her. I situate myself on the coach and before I can rethink it, press her contact. I’m just calling to see how things are going, given it’s her first night in Orlando, that’s a normal thing to do. She shouldn’t think anything about it. Exactly how I’m going bridge the gap between “just checking in” and “just letting you know I want to kiss you all the time and have since the day I met you '' I have no idea. I’m praying my natural ability to charm anyone will support me through this conversation.

After what feels like ages Sonnett picks up. She looks a little flushed but greets me in her usual calm manner. I notice that she’s lounging on a couch and that there seems to be a lot of home decor around for someone who just moved in that afternoon. When I finally ask her where she is, she flashes the camera towards Ashlyn and Ali. Ah, the home decor makes much more sense now. I should have realized that someone as social as Sonnett wouldn’t be spending her first night home alone. I know I can’t bring up the real reason I called, not with Sonnett sitting only a few feet away from our teammates, so I just keep the conversation friendly and short. 

When I hang up I recognize a mix of feelings. Of course I’m a little smiley, because talking to Em always puts me in a good mood. I also feel relieved that I didn’t have to have a serious conversation with her, but a big part of me feels like a coward. I recognize that probably wasn’t the time and place to bring the kiss up, but I also know that there’s likely never going to be a good time or place for a thing like that. 

Of course the first thing Alex does when she gets home is interrogate me. The door isn’t even fully open before I hear her shouting through the house,

“So, were we an adult tonight? Did you tell that girl you love her?”

“Alex, we’ve had one kiss, that’s hardly enough to qualify as love.”

“Is that a yes or a no to my question?” She asks, eyebrows quirked up. I let out a sigh as I answer,

“Both. Yes I was an adult and called her, but no I didn’t bring up how I felt about that night.” Alex gives me a look that screams “disappointed mom” so I continue, “I meant to, really I did! But when I called her she wasn’t alone at her apartment. She was at Ali and Ash’s for dinner, and how was I supposed to bring up a thing like that with those two around?”

“She was out and she _still_ picked up?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I swear you must have faked your way into Stanford with brains like that. Either that, or you’re the poster child for concussion protocol.” 

“Hey!” I say, crossing my arms and getting defensive.

“Sorry Kel, it’s just, you know that you have to talk to her about this sooner rather than later, right?”

“Yeah, yes I know, and I will. I just want to wait and do it in person I think.” Alex furrows her eyebrows at me like she’s trying to decide if I’m telling the truth or just trying to get her off of my back. She must settle on the truth though because she starts to lighten up.

“Okay Kel. I get it. Just, try to keep things normal between the two of you until you bring it up. Don’t go giving her distance again, or it will send her the wrong message.” 

I heed Alex’s advice. I text Sonnett and call her a few times, just to make sure she knows I’m not avoiding her. Part of me expects her to avoid me, to leave calls unanswered. Thankfully we seem to be past that. I talk to Alex almost every day about when I should talk to Sonnett about everything, and we both agree I need to bring it up at the She Believes Cup. It’s not ideal to have to have a non-soccer related chat during a tournament, but I don’t know the next time I’ll see her in person, and I can only make small talk with her on the phone for so long. 

When I get to the hotel and see the rooming assignments I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. I’m rooming with Sonnett. This alone would be complicated, but at least I know we’d be forced to talk things out. No, the real problem is that I’m _also_ rooming with Mal. Normally I’d be stoked to have the three-stooges back together. Sharing the triplet during the world cup was a blast, but this setup is just cruel now. How am I supposed to talk to Em with Mal in the room? How am I supposed to act like nothing has happened? To sleep next to the woman I want to be making out with? I’m already pulling up Alex’s contact as I throw my bags on the bed closest to the window. 

“I should really start charging you for the amount of advice I've given you this month.” She says by way of a greeting.

“We’re roommates.” Is all I can get out. It’s a high-pitched hush in case any of my teammates are in the hallway. 

“Oh.” Alex responds, “Okay so I know that might be a bit awkward at first, but assuming things go well it’ll be nice to have some time with each other, don’t you think?”

“Oh, that would be nice wouldn’t it? Except it’s not just the two of us, Al. Mal’s in our room too!” The line goes dead. “Alex, say something! Tell me it’s going to be alright, that everything’s going to be fine.”

“Uhm, everything’s going to be fine?”

“You’re the worst, officially demoted from ‘best friend’.”

“Okay Kelley, just hold on. I will admit this is less than ideal-”

“Less than ideal? Alex, this is a nightmare!”

“If you would just let me finish, I know it’s less than ideal, but there’s still going to be moments when Mal’s not in the room, right? I’m sure she’ll go to dinner or hang with people at night. Just try to get Sonnett alone sometime.” I can feel myself calming down little by little. 

“Yeah, okay, you’re right, Alex.”

“Always am.” I can’t contain my eye roll but I also let out a laugh. “It’s really going to be okay Kel. You’ve been friendly with her the past few weeks. Just keep that up, and then talk to her as soon as you get the chance.”

I spend the next fifteen minutes getting my head on straight before I hear a knock on the door. I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins as I turn the knob, but feel a wave of calm crash over me when I see that it’s just Mal. 

“Hey kiddo, missed you. Let me help you with those.” I say as I hug her and then grab her bags. I throw them on the middle bed, thinking that having a little space between me and Em while we sleep is probably a good thing. We catch up for a bit before I ask Mal,

“Hey do you know when Sonnett’s getting here? They gave me all of the room keys when I checked in.” I toss Mal her key and she responds,

“Oh I think she’s supposed to be here any minute. Do you want me to come down to the lobby with you?”

“That’s alright, you can stay and get settled. I’ll go get the last musketeer.”

“See you in a bit.” Mal calls out as I leave the room. I gather all the courage I can and head downstairs, knowing I’m going to have to figure out how to navigate this situation regardless, so better now than later. When I get down to the lobby, I see Em talking to Sam. I thought seeing her would make me nervous and hesitant, but instead seeing her just makes me calm and inexplicably happy. The smile on my face is genuine as I run full force into the pair of them.

…

It turns out Alex was sort of wrong about the whole “you’ll find time alone” thing. It’s not that Mal is always in the room. She does venture out and do things with other people. The problem is that even if Mal is gone, there’s always been someone else hanging around. I get it, we’re the coolest kids on the team, so it’s only natural that our room becomes the hangout hub, just like at the World Cup. 

Still, I can’t help but be a bit frustrated, yes I do mean in that way, but also just in general. As much as I’m terrified to have this conversation with Sonnett, a bigger part of me wants to know how she feels about it all. Does she still have a crush on me? Does she want to pretend it never happened? I don’t think that’s the case because she hasn’t given me the cold shoulder or anything, but maybe she’s not looking for a relationship. That’s what is bothering me the most. I don’t want to just “hook up” with Son. If we’re going to do this, I want the real deal. If I’m being honest I don’t know if Sonnett’s ready for that, I‘m kind of a handful. 

I don’t get Sonny to myself until the day after the England game. I come back from dinner with Tobin, Press, and Ali, and see that the room is empty. Deciding to take advantage of the peace and quiet, I grab my stuff and hop in the shower. When I get out I hear people talking in the room. Thankfully I had the forethought to bring my clothes into the bathroom with me. I hear Sonnett’s voice so I assume she’s back and with some of our teammates. 

When I open the bathroom door I’m surprised to see just Em. She’s laying against her headboard with an arm thrown behind her and appears to be FaceTiming someone. That explains the multiple voices I heard while in the bathroom. I mouth “Sorry” to Sonnett and quickly go over to grab my shoes so I can give her some privacy.

“Oh hey Kel. I didn’t realize you were in the bathroom.” I see her cheeks starting to go pink, but before I can comment, her phone starts to speak,

“Oh Kelley’s there? Let me say hi!” Emily turns the phone and I see her sister waving at me through the small screen. I can’t help but laugh as I wave back. I catch up with Em’s sister for a bit before trying to make an exit.

“Well I should let you guys catch up. I’ll be in Julie’s room for a bit, Son.” I go to grab my room key but I’m interrupted.

“Oh no, don’t go Kelley! I was just about to say night to Emily, so no need to leave on my account.” 

“Are you sure? I don’t mind-”

“Yep! Positive. Great talking to you Kel. and good luck to both of you this week! Love ya Emily.”

Sonnett mumbles “love you too” back to her sister before they hang up. She turns to me as she jokes,

“So I guess that proves it. My family gets more excited to talk to you than me!” We both let out a genuine laugh, but then silence falls heavy between us. I’m trying to figure out how to act normally when Sonnett speaks up again. It’s softer than her usual tone,

“I like your shirt.” Her statement catches me off guard until I look down and realize I’m wearing the Atlanta Braves shirt Sonny got me for Christmas two years ago. It’s become one of my favorite shirts and is always in my travel bag. I decide this might be the opening I’m looking for and go with it.

“Thanks. It’s one of my favorites.” Sonnett’s head snaps up to meet my eyes and she asks, with a little bit of cockiness in her voice,

“Oh, really? Why’s that?”

“Well, it’s super soft and reminds me of home.”

“Is that all?” She’s trying to meet me halfway, I can tell. Well halfway for her anyways, so I push my luck and continue,

“Alright, it also reminds me of a pretty special person.” I say, biting my bottom lip. Somehow I find the confidence to add, “Actually, I’ve been wearing it a lot lately.” I see her blush deepen and notice that she gulps before quipping back,

“Pretty special, or pretty and special?”

“Both.” I say, and I realize I’ve gone from standing near my bed, to standing right next to hers during the course of our conversation. She’s sitting up now so I sit down at the base of her bed, cross my legs, and face her. I take a deep breath and try not to notice my throat go dry as I say,

“I generally only kiss people who are pretty special to me. That you’re also very pretty is just a nice bonus.” She gapes at me, for longer than I'd like. I do my best to hold her gaze, but after several seconds of continued silence I feel the need to backtrack. I stand up from her bed and start to say,

“Sorry, I uhm- maybe I shouldn’t have said that. I’ve just been thinking about that night a lot and thought it might be good to talk about it, but we don’t have to.” I turn to give her some space, but she grabs my wrist before I can walk away.

“Kelley wait.” I’m sandwiched between her and Mal’s beds, so when Sonny stands up we’re closer than I can handle given our current conversation. 

“So you do remember?” She’s still holding my wrist and she sounds both relieved and a little small.

“How could I forget?” I say gently, wanting to reassure her. I see the smile spread across her face and know she’s feeling confident again. I can’t miss the flirtiness in her tone as she asks,

“Oh, that bad huh?” 

“Yep, the worst even. Definitely haven’t been replaying it in my head or anything.” I try to match her teasing tone. 

“That’s a shame.” She shrugs “Cause I was thinking we could try it again, you know, like a redemption kiss? But if you’re not feeling it-”

“I should be so lucky.” I say as I cut her off. I try to keep up with this flirty undertone, but it comes out more serious than I expected. Sonnett notices and we both fall quiet again. All of the playfulness seems to evaporate, and we’re left with nervous energy again. Just when I think I’ve messed this conversation up beyond repair, Sonnett speaks up.

“I mean, I’m in if you’re in?” 

“Well I’m in!” I reply, a little exasperated. Surprised at her ability to be both confident and unsure at the same time. This seems to be all the encouragement she needs though, because she pulls me in by the collar of my shirt. She looks down at my lips and then her eyes flicker up to meet mine. I’m not sure who leans in first. In an instant my lips are on hers, and my hands run through her hair. 

Instead of taking things slow, it’s like we pick up right where we left off all those nights ago. Son deepens the kiss almost immediately, and when I nip at her bottom lip she lets out a small moan. All of my confidence is back and hearing that sound coming from Emily makes me want so much more. I pull back just far enough to put my hands on Son’s shoulders and then push her back down on her bed. As I move to kneel over her, she scoots backwards so she can lay down fully. Her face is flush and her lips are swollen, and I’ve never seen a better sight. Just when I feel a large smirk spreading across my face, she reaches for my shirt again and tugs. She pulls me down on top of her a little bit roughly.

“Hey watch it, you’re going to stretch out the collar of my favorite shirt.” I say with a grin.

“Shut up. I’ll buy you a new one.” She silences my retort with another kiss and I don’t mind one bit. Em can shut me up any day. 

We both let our hands wander. I am a little embarrassed at my quick intake of air when Sonny’s hands slip under my shirt. Thankfully my gasp is nothing compared to the one that escapes her lips when she realizes I’m not wearing a bra. I smile into our kiss before I lean back and pull my shirt over my head. I watch as Sonnett’s eyes rake over my body. When she moves to touch me I sit up straighter, just out of reach. 

“Stop being a tease and come back here.” She says bossily, and this- this could be fun. 

“I don’t know, I’m getting pretty tired.” I say as I fake yawn and stretch my arms over my head. This has the desired effect. Em’s eyes stay glued to my movements and I see her let out a frustrated huff. 

“Kelley…” she whines. 

“Fine.” I say as I let out a sigh and lower myself back down. Matching her bossy tone, I bring my lips next to her ear and whisper, “but next time say ‘please’.” 

I feel her body shudder as I stretch my legs out behind me, and slot one in between hers. I’m just about to slip my hand under her shirt when we hear someone put their key in the door. 

We break apart immediately. Thankfully, Son had the safety latch on, so Mal only gets the first few inches of the door open. I jump off of Sonnett’s bed and grab my shirt off the floor. I quickly put it back on as I rush over to let Mal in. 

“Hey guys, why’d you lock me out?” She doesn’t sound accusatory, just curious so I shrug at her and say,

“We weren’t locking _you_ out, Mal. Just got tired of having everyone else in our room all the time. Thought tonight might be good timing for a roomie night. Sonnett doesn’t say anything but nods when Mal looks her way. 

“Okay!” Mal says, genuinely excited. It’s only once I realize I’ve inadvertently trapped myself in my room for the night that I mumble something about wanting to brush my teeth and walk into the bathroom.

“Fine but we’re gonna pick the movie without you then.” I hear Mal holler as I close the door. 

I take my time, splashing my face with water and thoroughly scrubbing every tooth way more than I normally would. I take a couple more deep breaths and then head back out there. Mal and Sonnett settled on _She’s the Man_ , and to my relief it looks like everyone is lounging on their own beds for the movie. 

Sonnett looks like she's deep in thought. She’s laying flat on her back with her eyes glued to the ceiling, and her hands folded on her stomach. But she is also keeping up a conversation with Mal, so it’s hard to really tell what’s going on in her brain. I try to be sneaky about glancing at Sonnett as the movie plays on. The third time I look at her I’m surprised to see her looking back at me. I know I’m busted so I just smile and try not to let my blush get too out of control. When the movie ends I turn off the lights and tell Sonnett and Mal goodnight. I turn over in my bed away from them both and feel my phone buzz. When I go to check it I feel my heart soar.

**Sonnett:** Sleep tight, Kel. 

I fall asleep with a smile plastered on my face.

...

The only negative side to kissing Sonnett again is we still didn’t talk through things completely. I don’t let that worry me too much at first, since I assume there will be more time to talk about it later. We get through the Spain game fine and even joke around during practice the next day. It’s not until I find out that Vlatko is switching up the rooms for the last game and summit, that I start to panic again. 

Sonny and I have been able to act normal around everyone so I know that we’ll be fine. It’s just that I really, really want to talk to her about what this all means or doesn’t mean before we fly across the country to different cities. I can’t wait until the next tournament or I’ll go mad. I guess I could fly out to Orlando and force her to talk to me, but that seems extreme and I’m nervous I’d chicken out. Before my thoughts run wild I decide to call Alex yet again. I finish packing quickly and tell Em and Mal I’ll meet them in the lobby. I find a secluded section and dial the number I know by heart. 

“What’s going on now, Kel?” She’s trying to play it off like she’s annoyed that I called her, but I can tell she’s secretly excited to be included in “team drama”. It makes her feel more connected to everyone while she’s away.

“We- it happened again.”

“So were you able to talk things out this time?”

“No, Mal walked in on us.”

“I’m hanging up on you.”

“Alex please! We started to talk about things, but it got too difficult so we just-”

“Stopped thinking with your brain and started thinking with your-”

“Okay, fine, yes, we were idiots. But I’m sorry, how were we supposed to room together and not have something happen again? Honestly it’s probably a blessing in disguise that Mal did room with us, otherwise we might have never made it onto the pitch.” This gets a laugh out of Alex who softens. 

“God you’re probably right. Well at least-” I don’t hear the rest of her sentence because I see the elevator door open with teammates filing out.

“Shit Al. I have to go. We’re getting on the bus soon.” We say goodbye and I hang up just before Press and Julie walk up to me. I see Sonnett heading towards the bus with Lindsey, so I stay back and chat for a few minutes before following the last of my teammates. 

When I walk towards my seat I see Sonny standing in her row laughing at something Lindsey said. She turns my way and meets my gaze. She flashes me a bright smile. Just as I’m turning into my seat I see her smile change into a slight smirk and she gives me a wink. 

I spend the next 40 minutes thinking about that wink...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting there. Side note, I know triplet rooms aren't super common but that's the beauty of fiction!


	11. Mission Accomplished - Christen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christen interferes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Sorry it's been a minute peeps. Better late than never? Working towards more regular updates again. Also we're back to 15 chapters.

Try to ignore it. Good. Focus on your breathing Christen. That’s right inhale: one, two. Exhale: one, two. Again. Inhale: one, two- Okay calm down she is just laughing. That’s a normal thing to do. I should be happy my friend is in such a good mood. Besides, learning to tune out my surroundings is important. I just need to re-set. Posture, check. Hands overlapping, check. Legs crossed, check. That’s better, control what you can control, and breath. Inhale, one, two. Exhale, one-that’s it. 

“Kelley, who are you texting? I can’t concentrate with you bursting into laughter every other minute.”

“Sorry Pressy.” She sounds distracted and sure enough as I turn around I see her sending another text off with rapid fire speed.

“Seriously Kel.” I push her, noticing the large smile on her face and realizing that whoever she is texting is having quite the effect on her. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen you this happy. Well winning the World Cup obviously, but who’s got you grinning from ear to ear?” I see the blush creeping up her neck as she slides down lower on her bed.

“Hmm? Oh uh it’s nothing, just some funny memes Sonny sent me. Sorry I’ll try to keep it down.” 

“It’s fine.” I tell her, giving up on my afternoon meditation and standing to walk over to her bed. “Can I see?”

“See what?”

“Can I see the memes she’s sending? Sonnett knows her memes like a bunny knows a carrot.”

“Your analogies are strange Press.” I shrug and she scoots over so I can lay in bed next to her. I look down at her phone and sure enough Son has sent through a barrage of memes, most of them from the past two games.

“You two text a lot don’t you?” I ask her. She looks up at me and again I notice the large smile on her face. She tries to look more neutral as she shrugs and says,

“Yeah, I dunno, maybe. I text people a lot in general though.”

“Okay, miss popular.” I laugh out “ I just meant that it seems like you and Sonny text constantly.

“We’re at camp, Press. What else is there to do?” She fires back with a slight edge to her voice.

“Chill Kel. I didn’t mean anything by it. It was just an observation, that’s all.” She huffs but I see her smile return and she nods at me before returning to her phone.

“Hey.” I say, lightly touching her knee to grab her attention. “Tobin and Son are roommates. Come on, let’s go see if they want to go on a walk with us. We still have a couple of hours before dinner.” I hop off the bed and when Kelley follows suit she loops her arm in mine and marches us down the hallway. I let her have the honor of knocking once we get to their room. 

We hear a scramble behind the door. I vaguely make out the sound of springs squeaking, followed by a large thud, and then the padding of footsteps. A red-faced, out of breath, and partially clothed Sonnett opens the door for us. She moves aside to let us in and I immediately spot Tobin doubled over laughing on the floor. I know she’s in no state to answer so I turn to Sonnett and cross my arms. 

“What were you hooligans up to?” I ask her.

“Who us? Nothing much, just proving to Tobin that I’m the world’s best bed gymnast.”

“Are you kidding me Son? You just fell off the bed not ten seconds ago!”

“Yeah, after jumping and pulling off a full flip. No pain no gain baby!” This sends Tobin into another fit of laughter.

“You two are ridiculous.” I tell the pair of them. 

“Whatever.” Sonnett shrugs as she climbs back on her bed and resumes jumping. “You okay, Kel?” Sonnett’s wearing the same mischievous grin I’ve seen her don when she’s thinking up a good prank. It’s not an uncommon look for her. What _is_ throwing me off is how it’s directed towards Kelley. When I turn around to look at Kel, I’m even more confused. Kelley seems like she is frozen in the doorway, eyes glued to Sonnett, unsure of how to proceed. This only lasts for a second before she’s wearing a grin of her own, and shaking her head laughing. 

“Please, you think that’s impressive? Let me show you how it’s done, rook.” Kelley says as she leaps onto Tobin’s bed and begins to bounce. Before one of them breaks their neck, I grab their arms and pull them down.

“If I buy you kids ice cream do you promise not to try any life-threatening stunts for the rest of the night?” I plead with the pair of them. They exchange one look between themselves before Kelley replies.

“Throw in hot fudge and a cherry and you got yourself a deal.”

Always true to her word, Kelley orders a hot fudge sundae complete with whipped cream and cherry on top from the local ice cream shop we find a few blocks away from the hotel. As usual, I order mint chocolate chip and Tobin gets cookie dough. After sampling all 10 flavors the shop has to offer, Sonnett settles on, “Chocolate. In a cone.” We find a bench nearby and decide to sit. I scoot next to Tobin so we can share our desserts and Sonnett plops down next to Kelley. 

“Chocolate’s a little unoriginal, don’t you think?” Kelley asks Sonnett coyly.

“We can’t all be as unique as you, miss Kelley. Although whipped cream was definitely the move.” Sonnett reaches towards Kelley’s bowl and gets a dollop on her finger.

“Get your grubby little paws off of my icecream Son!”

“Please Kel, stop acting like you mind my fingers.” Sonnett finishes in a tone that sounds almost flirty, but that can’t be right? No, she must just be teasing and I’m misreading things. Out of the corner of my eye I see Kelley grab Son’s wrist, bring her finger to her mouth, and suck the whipped cream clean off. 

“You’re right, guess they're not so bad.” Kelley finishes licking her lips. I feel my eyes popping out of my head and can tell there’s a blush on my face, but those two seem unphased. They’re so wrapped up in each other that they hardly notice when Tobin and I stand up to walk back to the hotel. 

Once we’re both back in our room I close the door behind me and don’t hesitate before asking,

“Kelley, what was all that about?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh yes you do, Kelley. Come on! What is going on with you and Sonnett? She was openly flirting with you, and you- you were flirting back!”

“So what? A little flirting never hurt anyone.”

“Yeah but Kel, you know that it’s not just joking around for her, right? I mean you’ve seen the way she looks at you. You’re going to give her the wrong impression if you keep this up.” Her whole demeanor shifts. All day she’s been exuding confidence, and in the blink of an eye I see it shrivel up.

“Wh-what if i’m not.”

“I’m sorry?”

“What if I’m not giving her the wrong impression.” It comes out so quiet I’m not sure she actually said it. It takes me a minute to process what she’s trying to say.

“So you’re saying you want her to think that you like her?”

“Well no, I don’t want her to think that I like her. I want her to _know_ that I like her, but I don’t know how to tell her that. ”

“Oh come on, Kel.” I scoff at her. “Of course you know how to tell her. Seems to me that you’re just worried about it, which is absolutely ridiculous. That girl has idolized you for years Kelley, of course she likes you back.”

“I guess that’s not exactly what I’m worried about. Rationally I know she likes me or she wouldn’t have kissed me back.” I spit out the water I had started drinking upon hearing this but Kelley keeps going as if I hadn’t just done an impression of a geyser. “I’m worried that she won’t want to do the whole relationship thing. I’m worried that just bringing up wanting to be her girlfriend will scare her off. Don’t get me wrong, the physical stuff has been great so far, but I know if I do anything further with her I won’t be able to separate my feelings. Hell, I’m probably already in too deep to walk away unscathed.” 

“Woah Kel, let’s just take a breath or two, okay? Good just like that.” I try to hide my concern as I look over my friend, but must not do a good job.

“Sorry Pressy. Didn’t mean to unload on you there. I just want to figure things out before we fly off to separate cities for the foreseeable future at the end of camp. I have yet to really find time alone with her and the few minutes we are able to get just feel so...charged.” She finishes her sentence with a shy smile I’ve rarely seen on her face. I feel my heart swelling at the sight of my friend, who’s hardly ever anything but brash and confident, apparently lovesick.

“I get it Kel. Try not to put so much pressure on yourself. I’m sure you guys will find time and will figure everything else. Besides now you have me looking out for you. If I see an opportunity for you guys I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

...

I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. Sure I knew Sonnett had feelings for Kelley, she’s never really tried to hide them, at least that’s my opinion. But after watching the two of them all day I realize that Kelley is actually the instigator most of the time. All throughout practice she kept “accidentally” kicking her ball towards wherever Son was just so she has an excuse to go over to her. Practice felt more like being at recess in middle school instead of training with world class athletes. 

Even now in the locker room the way they feel towards each other is so apparent. It’s actually starting to irritate me how dense they are both being. Rose somehow managed to successfully tie Sonnett’s cleats together while she was sitting in front of her locker. Kelley notices and instead of going along with the prank, she bends down to untie Son’s laces for her. The smiles they are giving each other as Kelley looks up into Sonnett’s eyes are so clearly filled with compassion. I can’t help but think,  
  


“Gosh just kiss her already.” I try to suppress an eye roll.

“What?” Tobin asks as she unties her cleats. Shoot. I can feel my eyes widening at the realization that I said that last sentence out loud. 

“Oh, uh, nothing Tobs. Was just thinking out loud I guess.” She squints at me briefly before turning to see who I’m looking at. I catch on to what she’s doing just a second too slowly and her gaze lands on Kelley and Sonnett.

“Oh yeah, those two are nauseating. Get a room already.” She says in her clam, chill voice. “What?” she asks me again. Clearly taking in my shocked state.

I pull my chin up off the ground and ask her, “You mean you knew about them and didn’t tell me?”

“Tell you? I thought you already knew. I thought everyone has known for years.” She shrugs. I give her a smack on the shoulder. “Ow.” she rubs the spot where my hand hit, but she’s laughing as she continues, “What? It’s that obvious. Anyone who pays attention must know.” I soften a little as a memory suddenly clicks into place. 

“Oh my goodness, did you see that wink on the bus yesterday?”

“Classic Sonny thinking she’s being subtle. It took all I had to not burst out laughing at the pair of them.”

We file out of the locker room laughing together as we recount all of the times we missed Kelley and Sonnett being blatantly into each other.

The next few days at camp take a more serious note as we persevere through our last game and then focus on the She Believes Summit. On our last day of camp the team is free to go out and celebrate our victory. Since it’s so close to St. Patrick’s Day and we’re in Chicago, it doesn’t surprise me when we end up at a rowdy irish bar in West Loop. 

I spend the night with Tobin making the rounds to our teammates. Even though we keep moving around the bar, Sonnett and Kelley somehow always seem to be in my peripherals. It’s like they are two magnets who keep coming back to each other. I finally see them separate from the rest of the team as they head to the bar. Perfect, I think. Maybe this is the chance Kelley needs. I let them wander from my mind for a bit as I chat with Julie and Crystal about the new kits. When I look back over to the pair of them I can see Kelley’s nerves written on her face. She is clearly not having the conversation she needs to be having, letting Sonnett entertain her with what I’m sure qualify as dad jokes.

“That’s it. I can’t take this anymore.” I set my beer down on the table a little bit loudly and make to move away. Tobin grabs my arm and asks, 

“Hey, babe, where are you going?” I give her arm a reassuring squeeze. 

“Don’t worry about it, Tobs. I just had an idea and I think you’re going to like the outcome.” I walk up to the pair of them. The way Kelley is looking at Sonnett as I approach tells me my plan is going to work. They’re so absorbed in each other I actually have to clear my throat before they notice me standing beside them.

“Hey Kel, Sonnett. I was wondering if I could ask you guys a favor?” 

“Of course Pressy, what’s up?” Kelley instantly beams up at me. I can tell she’s a little buzzed just by her response and the slight flush of her cheeks. 

“It’s a little bit embarrassing to ask,” I say in a shy tone, purposely dropping my gaze to the floor and tucking my hair behind my ear. “but, see, I was kind of hoping to stay with Tobin tonight, so I was wondering if you would mind switching rooms with me Sonny?”

“Oh, uhm,” I see her cheeks redden as she jokes, “Well I definitely don't want to stay in the same room as you and Tobin, talk about traumatizing.” She lets out a small laugh and brings a hand up to the back of her neck as she continues nervously, “but, all of my clothes and stuff are in there…” She trails off. I’m guessing she’s waiting to see Kelley’s reaction. Sonnett’s giving her the out if she wants it. Good thing I know that’s the last thing Kel wants. 

“I have stuff you can use Son, extra clothes and whatnot.” I’ve always admired Kel’s ability to seem so nonchalant in these types of situations. Even back in college she’s always been smooth. 

“Oh perfect.” I reply to both of them, “So it’s all settled then?” I direct my question more at Sonnett than at Kelley. She hesitates, visibly taking a deep breath before responding,

“Sure, I mean, assuming you’re okay with that Kel?” I give Kelley a quick nod for reassurance, and she confidently replies,

“Fine by me.” 

“Oh thanks you two!” I say giving Sonnet a quick hug. “You guys are the best.” I finish my last sentence with a wink at Kelley before pulling away from Son. 

“Tobs and I will probably go out to breakfast, so don’t worry about me being back in the morning Kel.” With that I walk away, but not before seeing Kelley drag Son back to the dance floor. As I walk back to the table I can’t help but think, mission accomplished.


	12. Ah, She Remembered This Time - Sonnett

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonnett has things “under control”
> 
> Also this is set in a world without COVID-19

I’m in trouble.

Not the “oh I just broke my mom’s favorite vase and now I have to try to super glue it back together” kind of trouble. No, this is the real deal. The kind with a capital T. 

I’m in Trouble because I can’t seem to stop coming onto Kelley. Sure we used to jokingly try to woo each other, but this is different. Gone are the days of harmless flirting, the kind I do with all my friends that’s mostly for laughs. Now I can’t help but shamelessly flirt, tease, and toy with Kelley every change I get. I keep trying to turn it off but whenever she’s around it’s like I have no power over myself.

I managed to keep things under control leading up to the Japan game. Once the SheBelievesCup was over however, only the summit event remained, and things were more relaxed with the team. I caught myself slipping. 

All during practice yesterday I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. I noticed the way her practice jersey fit tightly on her shoulders and biceps, but hung more loosely by her waist. I noticed the way her throat was bobbing as she guzzled down water. (I tried to  _ not  _ notice how much it made me want to plant kisses all along her neck.) And I noticed her abbs peeking out of her shirt when she raised her hands to wipe the sweat off her brow. Was this distracting? Yes, but thankfully no one seemed to notice how out of it I was, or at least no one called me out on it, no one except for the cause of all the distraction herself.

It was towards the end of practice during a scrimmage. I was dribbling the ball up the right side of the field when Kelley came in for a challenge. I was able to pass off to Lindsey before Kel got a foot on the ball, but she had already committed and slid across the pitch in my direction. With the ball safe on the other side of the field, I extended my arm to help Kelley up. 

Once she got to her feet, I noticed a blade of grass stuck to her cheek. Without thinking I went to reach for it, but at the last second stopped myself. I tried to smoothly reroute my hand and instead gave Kel a nice platonic shoulder pat. For a minute I thought I'd pulled it off, but before I could step away Kelley laughed at me and slapped my ass. As she walked away she looked back at me over her shoulder and mouthed “busted”. 

After this mortifying incident I tried to rein it in. I was able to (mostly) keep my composure up until we started to cool down. I was stretching in a circle with Becky, Abby, Rose, and Sam when Kelley strode up to me.

“Can you help me stretch my hamstring, Son?” I raised my eyebrow at her question but she took my lack of a response as a yes and laid down on her back next to me. I stood by her feet and she lifted her leg in the air. As I stretched her out, I took her shoe in my hand and gently rotated her ankle the way that the PT’s showed us. Touching Kelley, even like this, made my entire body hot. I tried to focus on the conversation my teammates were having and before I knew it, Kelley was standing up and gently pushing me down on the ground.

“Your turn.” She said, already reaching down for my leg.

“Oh that’s okay. I’m good.”

“Well how about I make you even better?” She had already started running through the same stretch exercises I had just gone through with her, so I managed to nod and she continued.

If I thought touching Kelley was problematic it was nothing compared to what having her touch me felt like. I knew my face, ears, and neck were all scarlet but was hoping people would assume it was from the workout. The worst part was that with my head on the ground the only place I could comfortably look was up at Kelley. I tried turning my head from side to side to avoid her gaze but it made my neck ache. Kelley, for her part, was making no effort to look anywhere except directly at me. Her stare was almost challenging as if she knew exactly what she was doing and exactly how uncomfortable (and wonderful) she was making me feel. After a few more agonizing minutes she relented. 

“There” Kelley said, “all done.” 

“S-sure know how to make a girl feel loose, Kel.” I tried to slip into our usual banter as I got to my feet, but it came out more stunted than I would have liked. Kelley seemed unaffected as she replied,

“Yeah well, I’ve been told I’m pretty great with my hands.” I knew she was just teasing me, it was nothing out of the ordinary for us or for our team. This point only further proved when my teammates around me burst out laughing. I tried to join in but only managed to get out a few weazy laughs. Kelley, never one to let a joke die early, continued,

“What do you think Sonny? Willing to give me a review?” This is where I was supposed to respond. Come back with one of those witty retorts that I’m known for, but my brain was blank. It was too hung up on imagining how much I’d like to give Kelley a  _ very  _ thorough review. My brain had no capacity left for anything else. I could feel my mouth opening and closing again, waiting for something to come out, but nothing did. Before I could embarrass myself any longer, Abby stepped in and did it for me.

“Careful Kel, or you might break Sonnett.” I gave Abby a playful shove and finally found my words. 

“Shut up” I mumbled out,

“Oof, nice come back Son.” Rose barked out in laughter. “Talk about a swing and a miss. It’s okay though. Whenever I epicly fail at something I just remind myself that even Kelley O’Hara whiffs on the ball sometimes.” Rose finished her sentence with a wicked grin in Kelley’s direction. Kelley straightened up, aimed her water bottle in Rose’s direction and squeezed.

“Kelley! Stop that’s cold!” Rose screamed as she tried to make a break for it. Kelley continued to laugh loudly as she chased Rose around the field. With the two of them gone I was able to finish cooling down in peace, and have been able to keep things under control since. But now it is the last night of camp, and as I enter the bar with my teammates, I can’t help but have a strange feeling about tonight. A feeling that Trouble might actually be spelled K-E-L-L-E-Y, and that I won’t be able to keep things “under control” much longer. 

...

Things start off fine, with my team wasting no time in making ourselves comfortable at the bar. Most of us take our first drinks onto the dance floor. After a few songs I grab Rose and Abby and we claim our stake on a small window booth. I slid into the booth across from my teammates, but once we are settled in I can tell things are about to go south by the grins on my friends’ faces. Abby looks me straight in the eyes and asks, 

“So Son, where’s your girlfriend tonight?” 

“What are you talking about Abby?” I stammer out. Feeling the heat rising in my neck and looking for a distraction from this conversation, I reach for my beer, but misjudge the distance and accidentally knock it over. I rush to tip it back up before the bottle empties entirely, and am left with a small puddle on the table in front of me. Rose snorts at my actions, but Abby seems undeterred as she continues,

“Just seems like you and Kelley have been extra chummy lately, that’s all.” She sounds amused. I drain what is left of my beer as I think about what to say next. I try to take back the conversation the only way I know how,

“Please” I say with a wave of my hand, “You know that I’m single and ready to mingle.” I try to joke. 

“You sure about that? I guess I could always ask- oh hi Kelley.”

“Sup Son, Abby, Rose.” Kelley greats the table as she approaches carrying two drinks. “Here” she says somewhat gruffly as she places her second beer in front of me, “Thanks” I mumble, a little confused at her tone considering I hadn’t asked for a drink in the first place. I go to take a sip and determinedly ignore the way Abby is leaning back in her seat, crossing her arms, and looking like she just won an argument. 

“What’s all this mess?” Kelley asks, gesturing to the spilled beer. Rose and Abby both point to me and I just shrug, not wanting to draw further questions from anyone at this moment.

“Typical Sonny.” Kelley laughs and she leaves it at that. She says something about grabbing napkins from the bar and before I know it, it’s just me and my interrogators at the table again. Abby looks pointedly at me before saying, 

“That was  _ so _ nice of Kelley to get Sonnett a drink, don’t you think Rose?”

“ _ Soooo _ nice.”

“I hate you both” I grumble towards the pair of them as I go to take another sip. They laugh at my expense for a little bit longer but thankfully drop it after that. Kelley comes back with napkins in hand and Sam at her side. Kel slides in next to me and Sammy pulls up a chair at the end of the table. Once we clean up the spill Sam asks us all what our plans are after camp. The table breaks into excited conversation about visiting family and friends, quick vacations, and of course, pre-season training. 

I’m finally starting to feel at ease when I feel Kelley’s arm drop down on the seat gently grazing my leg. I glance down at it and notice her palm is face up. Is this an invitation? I remove my right hand currently wrapped around the beer in my lap and tentatively edge towards her hand. I turn my head slightly trying to catch her eye, but she is too busy telling an animated story to notice me. I decide against it and use my moving hand to scratch the top of my nose instead. This, of course, Kelley sees, as she chooses that moment to steal a sideways glance at me. It might be a trick of the light, but I think I see her smile tick up just a little bit. I’m sure it was just the movement of my hand that drew her attention, but just in case I move my beer to the table with my left hand and let my right hand stay cozy in my lap. 

I get caught up in the conversation after that and it takes a few times to register that something is nudging my leg. I look down and see Kelley’s pinky stretched out as she continuously pokes at my thigh. This time I turn to her fully with a questioning glance but she looks adamantly straight ahead. I can’t miss the giant smirk on her face, however, as her pinky continues to prod at the side of my leg. I’m not sure if she’s just trying to get a rise out of me or what, but after the tenth poke I reach down to still her hand, effectively covering it with mine. She stops poking me but as I go to pull my hand away she laces her fingers with mine. She doesn’t offer up any explanation, hell she doesn’t even miss a beat in her story, but she does give my hand a slight squeeze. I take another sip of my beer to try to conceal the large smile threatening to break out across my face. 

An hour or so must go by of the five of us all talking and laughing as we spot various teammates across the bar, when Kelley speaks up. 

“I need another beer.” I feel her lightly tug my sleeve as she scoots out of the booth. “Coming, Son?” she asks. 

I should put up a fight, or at least make a sassy comment. It’s what I would do under normal circumstances and if it was anyone else. But it’s not anyone else, it’s Kelley. I let her drag me away without retort. 

She leads me to the bar and wedges her way into an open spot at the counter. She turns to stand sideways and puts her arm around my shoulder moving me to squeeze into the tight space. I manage to get my left arm up on the bar and have to turn sideways to fit. Kelley doesn’t remove her arm from around my shoulder as she flags down the bartender. 

“So,” Kelley starts, “what do you want?” She’s asking about the drinks, right? Yeah she must be, don’t read too much into this. 

“Oh, uh, whatever you’re getting is fine. I’m not picky.”

“No?” She asks me with one eyebrow raised. When I shake my head I see her lean in and feel her hand move from my shoulder to the back of my neck. She starts to gently twirl some of the small hairs around her finger. She cocks her head to one side and says in a mischievous tone, 

“Really? I would have thought that you’d have some...preferences.” Okay she’s definitely not talking about drinks anymore. I can tell just from the impish grin she’s wearing. There’s no way she misses the shiver that runs down my spine. For one she can probably feel it, and two I can’t help from visibly shaking a bit. I’m saved from the agony of responding by the bartender coming over to ask for our order. Kelley gets us each a Guinness.

“It’s festive.” She tells me, as if she suddenly feels the need to defend her drink choice. I love how she goes from being confident to shy in a matter of milliseconds.

“Do you hear me complaining?” I reassure her. She smiles brightly at me. We get our drinks and Kelley finally takes her arm off of me to sign her receipt. I turn to head back to the booth when I once again feel Kel’s hand on me. This time it’s on my forearm as she says,

“Son wait. Do you think we could stay here for a bit?” She motions to the bar. Some of the people next to us cleared out once they got their drinks so there’s enough space for us to stand close but not be squished like before. I feel my lips tugging at the corner of my mouth as I say,

“Yeah sure, of course Kel.” She gives me a nervous smile and a quick nod as I walk back. She’s still acting a little less confident than normal. I muster up all the courage I can and try to put both of us at ease. It seems to work.

Kelley throws her head back to laugh at the 5th stupid joke in a row I’ve told, when I sense another person near us. I turn and jump slightly as I see Christen. I try to keep up with the conversation and manage to respond when needed, but it’s difficult now that Kelley has her arm around me again. This time she’s wrapped it around my waist and I can feel her fingers lightly pushing into my side. I follow enough of the convo to realize what’s being put on the table. Me and Kelley, rooming for the night, alone.

No. I think. Absolutely not. There is no way this ends well, better to just put the kibosh on it now-

“Sure, I mean, assuming you’re okay with that Kel?” Who said that? It can’t have been me because even I’m not  _ that _ stupid. I guess I am that stupid because Christen pulls me into a hug as she says thanks. I’m still recovering from that whirlwind of a conversation as I feel Kelley pulling gently on my wrist. Of course I allow her to lead me. I’ve basically given up any control of the night at this point. We end up on the dance floor but away from all of our teammates.

Unlike the last time we were out, Kelley is dancing with me (or more like on me) almost immediately. After several songs of her back pressed up against me, I let my hands wander from her hips. I gently slide my hands up the side of her stomach and then rib cage. When I hear her breath hitch I move my hands in the other direction, gliding down her body until I get to her thighs. I squeeze her right thigh and she drops her head back on my shoulder, humming her approval. I feel her turn towards my neck and sigh, 

“God you’re sexy, Em.” Maybe it’s the alcohol, though I know I haven't really had enough to make me drunk, maybe it’s the adrenaline from moving to the beat of the music, or maybe it’s just the intoxicating feeling I get when I’m around Kelley. Whatever the reason, her words make me feel bold. I lean down and start to smoothly kiss her neck. She tips her head to give me better access and I make it all the way up her neck before gently nipping at her ear. 

“Just you wait, Baby. You ain't seen nothing yet.” I whisper before lightly licking the inside of her ear. As I pull back I feel her whole body shudder against me. She shakes her head and then suddenly steps away from me. 

Just when I start to worry that I’ve done something wrong, she grabs my wrist and leads me out of the bar. She hails a cab in no time (of course she does this with practiced grace, like she’s the lead in a romantic comedy or something. I mean who even takes cabs these days? I’ll tell you who, Miss Kelley) and we’re pulling up to the hotel ten minutes later. 

...

When we get back to Kelley’s room we’re both a little unsure of how to act. It was much easier to be confident in the dim lighting of O’Shenanigans, when the thought of spending the night with Kelley was more of a dream than a reality. Now that this is apparently actually happening though, I sense the nerves creeping back in. Thankfully Kelley seems to be feeling the same way. She tries to break the building tension in the room by giving me one of the water bottles she picked up in the lobby on our way in.

“Drink up.” Kelley says as she tosses one of the water bottles my way. Unfortunately for me it is the one that she had already opened and taken a few sips of, but managed not to close all the way. I catch it, and the force of the impact shoots the cap off as I squeeze the bottle tightly, emptying most of its contents. It’s a direct hit, I’m drenched, completely covered in water, but I can’t help but double over laughing. Kelley, upon seeing me crumble into a hysterical laughing mess, joins in, and it takes a full five minutes before we regain our breath. 

“Alright” I say, straightening up and breathing almost normally again, “this has got to go.” I pull my dripping shirt off over my head and toss it aside. “I was told you’d have extra clothes for me?” I ask lightly, fully aware that my body is on display, and hoping that Kelley will take notice. If the look she’s giving me wasn’t enough of a confirmation, her response certainly clears things up.

“I do, but I’m not so sure I want to lend you any after seeing this alternative option.” She wags her eyebrows at me as she steps closer and places a hand on my shoulder. She looks me up and down and says,

“Damn, Sonnett. Maybe I should get you wet more often.” The panicked look on her face after realizing what she said tells me that the words slipped out on accident more than anything else.

“Shit, Em. I didn’t mean- just that you’re so-” Kelley starts to backtrack but seeing her all shy and nervous stirs something in my gut, and I cut her off. I slide one hand to the back of her neck and kiss her. She’s surprised at first but soon relaxes and allows me to deepen the kiss. She moans when my tongue enters her mouth, and I bend down to pick her up. She’s quick to catch on and wraps her legs around my waist as I walk us over to her bed. Setting her down gently, I only break the kiss once I’m fully on top of her. I pull apart just enough to rest my forehead on hers and ask,

“So what?” Kelley groans at the loss of contact between our lips and reaches up to reconnect, but I pull back out of reach and repeat myself.

“So what, Kelley?” It comes out low and a little bit demanding. Kelley looks frustrated and slightly wild as she pants out,

“Fuck. Hot, Em. You’re so fucking hot.” Hearing Kelley swear in bed is almost too much for me so I don’t resist when she pulls me back down. She lets me kiss her everywhere. I get more creative with my movements and start to find the spots that make Kelley tick, like just behind her ear, and where her collar bone meets her neck. I can tell Kelley’s getting impatient with my pace when she reaches behind me and starts to fumble with my bra, but I’m not ready to let her have her way just yet. I gently grab her wrists and remove her hands from behind my back. She breaks our kiss and pulls back with a slightly confused look on her face, but it turns into a satisfied smile when she feels me tugging up at the hem of her shirt. She lifts her arms over her head and once her shirt is off I move my hands to the clasp of her bra. Before making short work of it, I lean back and meet Kelley’s eyes. She gives me her nod of approval and I don’t hesitate. 

My eyes, my hands, and my lips roam all over her upper body, giving each spot just enough attention to feel Kelley squirming underneath me before moving on. Her breath gets more and more ragged as I move down her slender frame, her nails digging deeply into my back as my hands inch lower. I swiftly unbutton her jeans and remove her last bits of clothing, before climbing back on top of her.

“Can I touch you, Kel?” It’s a full octave lower than usual and I can tell the effect it has on Kelley as she replies with a strangled, 

“Yes, God yes.”

I build her up slowly, enjoying the sounds it pulls from her, getting to experience her in this entirely new way. When I taste her for the first time I can’t help the moan that escapes my lips, appreciating the way the vibration causes Kelley’s hips to buck up against my face. I meet her gaze just before she comes, and ingrain the way she is unraveling before me in my memory. I hold her tight as she comes down, and place soft kisses on her cheeks. Kelley has an arm tossed above her head and I feel her whole body move with laughter as she lets out a shaky,

“Wow.”

“Good?” I ask, trying my best to sound like I already know the answer’s yes.

“Mmhmm.” She replies with a closed-lipped smile. “Very good.” she giggles. “Some might even say excellent.”

“Well I’m glad to hear it, because I’m not done with you yet.” I say and then lean down to capture her lips in a searing kiss. She kisses me for a bit before pushing me off of her with surprising strength as she says,

“Na-huh, it’s my turn now.” She rolls us over so that she’s on top and starts undressing me. The look in her eye has me both apprehensive and excited about what’s next. 

It really shouldn’t surprise me that Kelley is just as infuriating in bed as she can be out of it. She’s purposely taking her time, I can tell. And she’s enjoying it way too much.

“Kelley?” I whine. Hoping she’ll get the hint and speed things along.

“Yeah, Em?” Ugh she looks so goddamn pleased with herself and it makes me want to wipe the smirk off of her face. I grab a fistful of her hair and tug, not hard enough to hurt, but with enough force to turn her head and bring her ear close to my lips.

“Kelley, I’m gonna need to you to fuck me. Now.” She raises an eyebrow and makes no moves to comply, clearly enjoying the power she currently has over me. I let out a frustrated huff before adding,

“Please.” If I thought she looked smug before, I was wrong. It’s nothing to how she looks now as she leans down and whispers, 

“Ah, she remembered this time.” before giving me everything I’ve ever wanted. Turns out politeness has its benefits when it comes to Kelley

When we finally curl up to go to sleep we’re both beyond exhausted. I lay flat on my back and put my left arm around Kelley as she rolls her side into me. She drapes a leg across my body and places her arm on my chest, resting her hand flat on my collar bone. I turn my head to the side and plant a soft kiss on her forehead, saying goodnight. Right before I fall asleep I hear her whisper,

“Goodnight Em.”

It’s quite possibly the best night of sleep I’ve ever had, that is until I wake up to Kelley shaking me, shouting at me to get out of bed…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one got kind of long but considering it’s basically all S’Ohara I didn’t think anyone would mind. 
> 
> Side note: If I ever own an irish bar I’m definitely naming it O’Shenanigans.


	13. You Need To Talk To Her - Kelley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Better late than never.

Woah.

I wake up and suddenly register sunlight pouring into the room. As I gather my senses I realize there’s another person in bed with me. I smile to myself remembering who it is. I move to gently wake her when I hear my phone going off. That’s funny, I don’t remember setting an alarm last night. Before I can react the sound stops. Strange. When I finally get to my phone I see that I have several missed calls from my agent. Oh no. My stomach churns and I start moving as quickly as I can.

“Crap” I mutter to myself as I start shaking Sonnett. “Em, wake up. We overslept and Jack’s been trying to get a hold of me all morning.” She just grumbles and tightens her hold on me. It’s cute, too cute considering it makes me temporarily forget the mess I’m in. I’m torn out of my momentary daydream by the sound of my phone ringing, again. Reluctantly wiggling out of Sonnett’s grasp, I stand up and take a deep breath before answering,

“Morning Jack.” 

“Kelley the car company says they’ve been waiting for you for over a half hour! What’s going on? You’re supposed to be at Nike in twenty minutes and it’s all the way across town!”

“Fuck, okay I’ll be down in the lobby in ten. Can you just ask them to wait a little longer?” Without hearing his response I start to haphazardly collect some of my belongings scattered around the room. Jack continues to rant about the importance of timeliness and how he expected me to be more responsible (as if I didn’t feel guilty enough), when I walk over to the bed again. I pull my phone away from my ear and mute my call. 

“Sonny, Son. Come on get up. I have to go, you’ve gotta get out of here.” I’m trying not to raise my voice but can’t help keep the panicked edge out as I semi-shout at her. She’s groggy at first, but once she takes in my alarmed state it seems to snap her into action.

“Kel, what’s wrong? Why are you freaking out this early in the morning?”

“Because it’s not early, Em! We overslept. It’s nearly 11am!” Just then I hear a loud “Kelley?” coming from my phone. I unmute the call, do my best to pacify my agent, and assure him that I will make it to this Nike shoot as if my life depends upon it. Which, with them being my top sponsor, it kind of does. 

“Shit, okay uh, I have to finish packing and get ready in less than ten minutes.” I say, telling myself just as much as her. I’m already in the bathroom attempting to make myself presentable when she asks, 

“What why? I thought the Utah flight wasn't until tonight?” There’s something in her tone that’s new to me. It’s not annoyance, maybe disappointment? Not much, like she’s trying to hide how disappointed she truly is that we’re unable to spend the day together, but enough for me to pick up on it. I store that thought away for later before remembering that I need to explain myself. 

“It is tonight, but my manager booked me to do a Nike ad shoot while I'm here and I was supposed to be in the lobby at 10:30am. Chris said if I have my stuff packed she can bring it down for me when she checks out, and then I’m meeting the Utah gang at the airport right after the shoot. God how am I going to do all of this in 10 minutes?” I mutter the last line mostly to myself.

“Okay, you go get ready and I can pack your stuff.”

“Son you don’t have to-”

“Ah” She holds a hand up to me, “less arguing and more moving, miss Kelley.” I feel the smile tugging at the corners of my mouth even as I close the door to the bathroom. In ten minutes I’ve done enough to be presentable and head back into the room. I see Sonny has somehow managed to pack everything up and is sitting on my suitcase attempting to zip it shut. With a little bit of effort she succeeds.

“There, all set.” She beams up at me. 

“How on earth did you manage to do that so quickly?”

“Not gonna lie it’s pretty ugly in there.” she points to the suitcase, “I’d open that with caution if I was you. Wouldn’t be surprised if a tornado burst out of it when you get home.”

I chuckle at her soft jokes and pull her into a hug, relishing the way she feels in my arms. “Thanks for all of your help Em.” And I really mean it, knowing I would have definitely been screwed if she hadn’t been here to help me. Then, realizing that this is actually the only chance I’ll have to say goodbye to her before we jet off to separate cities, I add, “And thanks for last night. It was- well I- I’ll talk to you soon.” I want to tell her more, to tell her how much last night meant to me. How much  _ she  _ means to me, but I’m running late so I turn and kiss her temple, trying to convey my feelings in a kiss rather than words. 

I race down to the lobby, spot the car, and hop in the backseat. I make a little small talk with my driver, who tells me that the ride will take about half an hour given we’re fighting city traffic. Deciding to pull my phone out of my pocket, I send a quick text to Jack letting him know I’m enroute. He just sends back the thumbs up emoji. Great. It’s never a good sign when he only responds with emojis. 

Trying to get my mind off of the disaster of a morning, I find myself thinking back to last night, and more importantly, to the amazing woman I spent it with. It’s stupid really. I said goodbye to her less than ten minutes ago, but I find myself missing her goofy smile and kind eyes. There is no way I’m going to be able to wait until the next camp to see her. Once I realize this, an idea pops into my head. It might be a bit rash but hey, when have I’ve ever been known to make sensible decisions? Before I can overthink it, I pull up her contact and start typing. 

**Kelley:** _Hey Sonny. So I had thought...you can totally say no and I promise I won’t be offended. I know it might be a bit much to ask, but I was wondering how you’d feel about me coming to Orlando next weekend? Alex said I can stay at her place since she’s not there so I wouldn’t get in the way of preseason training or anything. Plus I would kind of like to take you out on a proper date...if you’d be interested?_

Wait. Is Sonnett even interested in dating? And if she is, do I really want to ask her out over text? Am I completely crazy for even suggesting this? I mean we’ve visited each other plenty so it’s not like that’s new. Granted we hadn’t had sex before so this is slightly uncharted territory. Does putting in the part about staying at Alex’s seem too weird? I mean it’s better than assuming she’d want me at her place, although realistically I am hoping to end up there. 

Oh- Shit. I curse internally as I look at the black screen in front of me. Perfect, just great, I think. I suppose this will save me from fussing over every word in that text, but who knows when I’ll have time to find a charger? Honestly I should be lucky my battery lasted this long considering I forgot to charge it last night. I sigh pocketing my dead phone. Maybe this is a sign from the gods that Orlando was a bad idea. Perhaps my phone dieing saved me from a lot of potential embarrassment.

When I arrive at the production studio somewhere near Fulton Market, I see things are already in full swing. Since I’m late things run behind, and it takes longer than it should to get through hair and make up. The shoot seems to drag on and my thoughts are constantly being interrupted with images of a certain cute blonde. When I finally finish up at Nike I realize it’s going to be a stretch to get to the airport on time. Thankfully Jack arranged for another car for me and Christen checked my bag so all I have to do is meet my teammates at the gate. I get there just as they start boarding and gush my thanks to Christen for not only handling my luggage, but also picking up a snack for me to eat on the plane.

“Chris you’re literally a life saver today. Thank you.” I say as I go in for a hug. Then, remembering my phone I ask, “also, you wouldn’t happen to have a phone charger on you, would you?” Christen just laughs as she digs through her bag and hands me her charger. I plug it in once I get settled in my seat and remember to switch my phone into airplane mode. I’m still not sure how one phone could take down a whole plane, but at the same time I’m too much of a worry wart to risk taking any chances. Kicking myself for not having the forethought to download anything new for the flight, I pull up my kindle app and do my best to settle into my book. 

Three and a half hours later and I’m handing Press her charger while we deboard the plane. As I turn my phone off of airplane mode I hear notifications coming in, but before I can check them Christen pipes up. 

“So….?” She starts. That’s all she gives me though so I stare at her with a confused expression on my face.

“So?” I respond back, as we head down the terminal towards baggage claim. Christen keeps in step with me as she continues,

“Come on Kelley! Don’t leave a girl hanging. How’d things go last night?”

“Oh. Things went great. Really great.” Great is an understatement. More like it was totally and completely amazingly mind blowing and awesome, but still, gotta play it cool. 

“Yes! I’m so happy for you guys! So when are you going to tell the team?” The team? Huh?

“Tell the team what?” Even I can admit that it sounds a little indignant. 

“That Sonnett is your girlfriend?” I feel my face fall.

“She’s not my girlfriend Press, we didn’t talk about that.”

“Oh. I see. Well did you at least ask her out?” When she sees me shake my head she continues “Really Kelley, why do you think I went through all the trouble of getting you guys some alone time? Why do you think I wanted to switch rooms?”

“Well, presumably so Sonnett and I could hook up.”

“Ugh. No no no Kelley. I switched rooms with you so  _ Tobin and I _ could hook up, but you and Sonnett were supposed to talk things out!”

“Oh.”

“You’re darn right ‘oh’! I mean I understand why you were perhaps too busy to talk about things last night, but what’s your excuse for avoiding the conversation this morning? Didn’t you guys talk about anything afterwards? Or did you just wake up and sneak out the window?” I know she’s teasing me about the last part, but thinking back to how quick my interaction was with Sonnett this morning has me feeling slightly more guilty than I’d like. 

“Uhm, well…”

“Oh my gosh Kel, I was kidding! Please tell me you didn’t go through the window!!”

“No of course not! I would never do that to anyone, let alone Sonnett, but, well we woke up late so I did kind of run off on her this morning. I mean I said goodbye and everything, and said I’d talk to her soon…” My voice trails off at the end, begging for Christen to jump in and tell me not to worry about things, that it was no big deal. Instead she just says, 

“Hmm.” While giving me a calculated look that gets under my skin. It’s starting to irk me so I finally ask,

“You don’t think that’s bad, do you?” Before Press can answer, my phone surprises me for what has to be the twentieth time today. It’s not my agent this time though, it’s someone much,  _ much _ worse. Christen must see the color draining from my face because she grabs the phone out of my arm and, noticing the caller ID, immediately tosses it back to me.

“Well if the great Horan is calling you, it can’t be good.” I stifle a groan because Chris is absolutely right. I know Lindsey can only be calling about one thing. Preparing for the verbal assault that awaits me, I take a breath, before finding an empty bench and answering the call.

“Hey Horan. What’s up?” I ask as innocently as I can. I expect an explosion on the other end, after all Lindsey is insanely protective of her friends and Sonnett in particular, but when Lindsey speaks she just sounds confused.

“Kelley, why would you say that to her?” For a minute my heart stops. I rake my brain trying to remember what I could have possibly said to Sonnett that would have Lindsey calling me the second I touched down, but I can’t remember anything that was too bad. I mean sure I wish I would have been more loquacious when saying goodbye, maybe thrown in an ‘I’ll miss you’ or ‘can’t wait till I see you’ but it’s hard to think of that stuff on the spot, and I was in a very frazzled state this morning. I hadn’t even had coffee yet! Thankfully Lindsey takes my silence as confusion and clears things up. “Why would you say ‘talk to you soon’ and then proceed to ignore her for the entire day?” Are you kidding me,  _ that’s  _ what this is about? I can’t help the small laugh that escapes my lips.

“What? Is that seriously why you’re calling? I haven't been ignoring her Linds. My phone’s been dead all day and I literally just landed in Utah not ten minutes ago. Why is she freaking out anyways? I mean I saw her like 8 hours ago and we were fine.” This whole situation makes no sense. Sonnett’s not usually the type of girl who fusses over things like how long it takes someone to respond to a text. It’s not very characteristic of her to be flipping a lid over something as silly as this.

“That’s not what she said. Sonny told me that she sent you a message after you left the hotel, a really important message. She said she could see that you were typing a response but then you never sent a message through. I think she got nervous when you didn’t respond at first and has been sending you frantic messages ever since.” This doesn’t make any sense. I don’t remember reading anything from Son today. Deciding to investigate I tell Lindsey to hold on, and I pull up Sonnett’s contact. 

The first thing I see is the message I was going to send her all those hours ago. I feel the adrenaline building in my chest at the thought of what would have happened if I had actually sent that text and delete it as quickly as possible. Sure enough once the screen is free from my unsent message I see no less than seven texts from Sonny. Based on the timestamp, the first message must have come through when I was on my way to the Nike shoot. Right when I was composing my own message, before my phone died. Ah. Okay problem found. Still I don’t fully comprehend what the big deal is until I finally read the messages from Sonnett.

Shit. It looks bad. Sonny totally put herself out there and it looks like I read it, chose not to respond, and then proceeded to ignore her for the rest of the day. Yeah, not great, but still I should be able to just explain, this doesn’t need to be a big deal. When I tell Lindsey as much she finally breaks the news to me.

“Kelley you don’t get it. It’s not as simple as a couple of missed texts anymore. Ugh this is so annoying. Everything just got way blown out of proportion and I’m going to strangle Mal next time I see her.” I feel the panic rising up in my throat now and stop Lindsey’s rambling,

“Spit it out Horan, what’s going on?”

“Okay. Okay. So the thing is you’re right” (Aren't I always?) “Sonnett was fine after you said goodbye, and even doing okay with the whole text miscommunication thing but then…”

“Then? Then what Linds?” I shriek at her.

“Well then she came down to breakfast, wearing all of your clothes no less, and of course we gave her hell for that, but then Rose started to grill her with all these questions and made her second guess a lot of your interactions, and that’s when Mal decided it would be a good idea to bring up your reputation as a player and well, when you combine that with the whole texting fiasco, I think Sonnett may have walked away with the impression that last night didn’t mean very much to you. We may have freaked her out a bit to be honest, but at the same time we are just trying to look out for her Kelley.” It takes me a second to process Lindsey’s extremely rushed and long run on sentence, but once I do I feel my stomach fall through the floor.

“But you know Sonnett means a lot to me, Lindsey! I know you know! And what do you mean ‘you’re trying to look out for her’? The last thing I want to do is hurt her, Linds.”

“I know you wouldn’t do anything intentionally Kel, but you have to admit, you don’t have the best track record when it comes to relationships.” 

“Excuse you? Other than a few ambitious years in college, when I was still figuring out the whole sexuality thing, what did I do to warrant this ‘terrible at relationships’ title? You know I’ve had several serious relationships, and while I can admit I may have been a little immature when I was younger, I’m not 20 years old anymore.” I can’t believe that she’s actually saying this to me. It’s been years since I’ve had a one night stand, and if I could take them all back I would. Besides, Sonnett and I told each other all about our “wild college days” years ago. She knows I’m not like that now, just like I know she’s grown up a lot since she was 19 too. 

“Oh come on Kel, everyone knows you hooked up with Christen at Stanford.” (Whoa, WHAT?) “How you two have managed to stay friends is a wonder to me, but that can’t happen with Sonnett. She’s not going to be able to just be friends with you. This wasn’t some drunken mistake for her Kelley. She’s liked you for ages.” 

“What the fuck Horan? I never hooked up with Christen!”

“Then why does Tobin always look murderous whenever people tease you about it?”

“Oh my God. We literally kissed one time for a stupid truth or dare, which by the way we both found cringe worthy. I’m pretty sure Christen even used mouth wash afterwards!” I tell her in a rather razzled tone. I hear Lindsey let out a small chuckle so I continue, significantly calmer, “When Tobin found out she didn’t talk to me for a whole month and kept putting salt in my coffee. And now Alex thinks it’s funny to bring it up once in a while just to see how riled up Tobin gets. Come on Lindsey, do you really think I would hook up with a friend and then just toss them aside?”

“No. I guess I know you wouldn’t do that Kel. Besides there’s no way Tobin would have let you live if that were true.”

“Exactly!” I reply, happy to have cleared the air. 

“Jesus. I can’t believe what a mess this is, and all over nothing. Sonnett’s in a complete tizzy and none of this would have happened if Rose and Mal had kept their big mouths-”

“It’s okay Linds.” I cut her off “I don’t really care how things got so out of control. I just want to know how to fix it. How do I calm Em down?” The line stays quiet for a minute before Lindsey speaks up.

“You need to talk to her.” Really Horan? This is your sage advice? I don’t hide my disappointment well.

“Well of course I need to fucking talk to her Lindsey!”

“No, Kel. I mean really talk to her. Tell her how you feel and all that mushy stuff. And I think you should do it in person, tomorrow.” 

It’s funny. I thought hearing Lindsey’s solution would make me feel heavy, burdened, but I don’t. I feel incredibly light. Instead of dwelling on the fact that I’m going to be traveling across the country twice in one day, have yet to eat a full meal, and am sure to be sore from the airplane seats tomorrow, all I can think about is that amazing woman. I don’t hesitate as I grab my bag off the carousel and, ignoring the confused look from Christen, immediately head towards departures. I approach the brunette working the counter and can’t hold back my grin as I ask,

“One ticket to Orlando please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be a teammate POV on how things got so carried away, feel free to guess who, note it will be someone new.


	14. On The Temple - Sam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friends, for better or for worse.

Do I want a smoothie, or an egg white omelet? If I get the smoothie I probably need a side. Mmm the grits look good. Darn but there’s cheese in them so that’s not very healthy. Okay if I do the Omelet then do I want spinach and broccoli, or more of a bacon tomato situation? Gosh, tough decision... Oh screw it, I’m getting pancakes. Camp is basically over anyways. Bring on the syrup and chocolate chips, well fine, I’ll do blueberries. I set my menu down and peer around the table. Rose, Mal, and Lindsey are all looking at me intently.

“What?” I ask them.

“Sam we’ve eaten here for the past 4 days, how do you need to still look at the menu?”

“There’s nothing wrong with knowing your options, Rose. Just because you eat oatmeal every single day doesn’t mean we can all be so repetitive.” 

“Options? This is a hotel restaurant. There can’t be more than ten things on the menu! If after four days you haven't memorized it, we might have to get you checked out.” I toss a packet of sugar at Rose and hear her mutter “rude” under her breath. 

“Are we waiting for Sonny to get down here, or can we go ahead and order? I’m starving!” Exclaims Mal. 

“I texted her a few minutes ago, but haven't heard back. We can just order some waffles and she can share my food with me if she shows up.” Lindsey says easily. If she shows up? Of course she’ll show up. What else could she be doing? Mal flags down our waiter and we put in our order.

“Speaking of Sonnett, did anyone see where she and Kelley disappeared to last night?” I ask the table at large. “The last I saw of them they were headed to the bar to grab drinks but they never came back.”

“Yeah, I wonder where they went?” says Rose, but her voice sounds strange, as though she knows exactly where they went. Well if you know Rose then you should just tell us, instead of acting all snide and secretive. I’m not the only one who picks up on her tone as Mal asks,

“What do you mean?” Before Rose can respond Lindsey abruptly kicks my shin under the table.

“Ouch Lindsey! I know I have long legs, but you can ask me to move them you know.”

“Sorry, Sammy. I was aiming for this loser.” Lindsey says apologetically before glaring at Rose. 

“What?” Rose shrugs, “It’s not like it’s some big secret anymore.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you.” Lindsey huffs and crosses her arms.

“Please, who knows where they'd be if I hadn’t intervened.” 

“More like let it slip, but okay.” Let what slip? Rose and Sonnett have a secret? Or is it just Sonnett? But then how is Lindsey involved? Someone fill me in here! Before I can ask, Sonny walks into the dinning area. 

“Morning.” she says through a big yawn and sits down in the empty seat next to me. Sonnett’s so out of it that it takes her a minute to realize that the conversation at the table has stalled.

“What’s up?” She asks. Lindsey and Rose both stare pointedly at her, but since neither of them say anything, Sonnett just shrugs and takes a sip of Lindsey’s coffee.

“Sonny…” Mal speaks up, sounding a little confused. “Isn’t that the shirt you got Kelley for Christmas one year? Why do you have it?” I follow Mal’s eyes and see that Son is sporting a navy blue Atlanta Braves shirt. 

“What this? Nah I’ve had this for forever. You must be thinking of another, similar shirt.” Sonnett responds casually.

“No,” Mal replies suspiciously, “that’s definitely it. I helped you pick it out remember?” 

“Okay Mal, I know you just turned 21 like ten minutes ago, but you might want to cool it on the booze if it’s going to mess with your memory this much.” Sonnett teases back, but something doesn’t line up. I see the tips of her ears going red as she opts for another sip of coffee, this time taking it out of the mug in front of me. When she leans over in her seat I get a better view of the sweats she’s wearing and spot a Utah Royals logo on her upper thigh. Why is Sonnett wearing Kelley’s clothes? Ohhh. Of course! She must have had a sleepover with Kelley last night. That’s probably why they disappeared together. I’m sure Tobin and Christen wanted a room to themselves and everyone knows Kel and Son are thick as thieves. Still, why is Son being all weird about this? It’s not like this is the first time they’ve bunked up together. And there’s really no reason to pick on Mal. 

“Sonnett, stop making Mal feel young just because you’re all awkward about sleeping with Kelley.” I tell her, trying to come to Mal’s defense. To my surprise, Sonny looks rather distraught as she glances between Rose and Lindsey.

“What the hell guys, you told them?” Told us? Told us wha- oh. OH! Oh my! I feel my eyes popping out of my head but am too shocked to respond.

“We didn’t say anything Son, but your walk, er well breakfast, of shame makes it hard to hide. You didn’t think to change before coming down here?” Lindsey asks softly. 

“Had a lot on my mind.” Sonnett mumbles as she slouches down in her chair. My brain has caught up enough to use words again, so I ask,

“Wait, you and Kelley? Since when?” Before she can answer, Rose turns towards me and asks,

Did you really not know?” Alright, calm down Nancy Drew.

“How would I know?” I ask Rose incredulously, meanwhile Mal is saying,

“Oh, that makes sense. So it is Kelley’s shirt then?” mostly to herself. Rose ignores my question and turns back to Sonnett.

“Since we’re all up to speed now, did you guys, you know?” Sonnett extends her neck as though she is waiting for Rose to clarify. When she doesn’t, Son rolls her wrist and prompts,

“Did we what, Rose?”

“You know, did you guys, I mean you had the room to yourselves so I would assume that you, that you-”

“I think Rose is trying to ask if you and Kelley finally fucked...what?” Lindsey asks Rose who looks slightly appalled at Lindsey’s crassness, “That’s what you wanted to know, right?” Rose nods but is too flustered to talk any further. We all look curiously towards Sonnett, waiting for her reply. She visibly gulps before answering, 

“Uhm, I mean yeah, we did.” She says in her shyest tone. Aw I’ve never seen Sonny looking so bashful, it’s cute. She must really like Kelley. Surprisingly it is Mal who speaks up first.

“Dude, that’s awesome! Oh my God you guys totally have to get together. Then you could double with me and Dansby in Atlanta. We have a whole list of restaurants we want to try and-” 

“Excuse me.” I interrupt “but can we please go back to my question? Since when have you and Kelley been a thing, or seeing each other, or, what is that you guys are?”

“I can answer your first question, but not so sure about the second one.” Sonnett's eyes look downcast and her words come out deflated. A loud thump on the table causes most of us to jump. Lindsey lets go of her cup that she aggressively set down and says,

“Are you kidding me? You guys still haven't talked through things yet? This is ridiculous. How did you not talk about it this morning?” Sonnett looks like a deer caught in headlights as she starts to stammer out,

“I- Kelley was running late because we overslept and so she just kind of left without us talking about it.” Seeing the concerned looks on all of our faces she adds “I mean you should have seen how frantic Kel was. It’s not like she ran out on me by choice. At least I hope.” Sonnett whispers the last sentence under her breath but I still hear it.

“I’m sure you’re right Sonny. We all know Kelley can be like a hurricane breezing in and out so fast. I wouldn’t worry about it.” I try to reassure her. Rose has no filter though, even if it’s at the expense of her friends' feelings, and sounds skeptical when she says,

“I don’t know… I mean, she just ran out? That’s not what I’d expect from her considering all the heart eyes she’s been sending your way. Did she even say goodbye?”

“Yes of course she said goodbye Rose!” Upon hearing this Rose instantly brightens. 

“Oh, then good! What’d she say?” Rose asks.

“Well I helped her get all her stuff together so she said thanks for that and-” Sonnett’s neck starts to get red and sure enough her cheeks follow suit a few seconds later as she continues “And then she said thanks for last night and that we would talk soon.” Rose and Mal exchange what can only be described as an uneasy grimace and it does not go unnoticed. 

“What? What was that look about?” Sonnett demands. Mal looks doubtful as she says,

“Thanks for last night. We’ll talk soon... That’s it?” I send her my best ‘not helpful, Mal!’ look as Son rambles,

“She didn’t say it like _that_ , she sounded genuine. Besides, we _will_ talk soon. We talk all the time.” Of course you will Sonny, that’s the spirit!

“Guys stop making Sonnett second guess herself. I’m sure she and Kelley are fine. Anyways we haven't even asked the most important question.” They look at me expectantly and I’m honestly surprised none of them have figured this out on their own yet. I can’t suppress an eye roll as I continue, 

“There’s an easy way to know how Kelley feels. I’m sure she kissed you goodbye, right Son?”

“Yeah, yeah she did kiss me.”

“There, see!” I explain triumphantly.

“On the temple.” Sonny finishes. Oh. Hmm. Okay well that doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad-

“You’re kidding, right? Tell me you’re joking.” Mal deadpans. Rose dramatically sighs and facepalms as she says,

“Jesus Son. I’ve had steamier kisses with my grandma.” I don’t doubt that Rose, but still, let’s not tear our friends down now, okay?

“I’m sure Kelley was just trying to be sweet.” I attempt to say in a reassuring tone. Unfortunately, it sounds flat even to me.

“Maybe.” Lindsey says cautiously. “Maybe Sam’s right, Dasani. Kelley’s been into you for a while, and though I thought she’d be a little smoother about things, I’m sure this morning was just a fluke like you said. Still you need to talk to her, figure things out.” See there we go, Linds agrees with me. Glad we have another voice of reason among us. Mal reaches across the table to grab Sonnett’s hand and sounds sincere as she squeezes it and says, 

“You guys are right. It’s worth talking to her, Sonny. This could all be a big misunderstanding and we want you to be happy. Still, I just don’t want this to turn into the next ‘Christen situation.’” Mal seems to think that what she’s saying is making sense, but judging by the confused looks Lindsey, Rose, and Sonnett are wearing, I’m not the only one who’s having trouble following her.

“I’ve been trying to talk to her, she’s not answering her phone though... And what do you mean ‘Christen situation?’” Sonnett asks Mal nervously. Mal seems surprised at the groups confusion as she clarifies,

“You know, the whole ‘Kelley hooking up with Christen in college and then being too fratty to commit and now having awkward team dynamics between those two and Tobin situation' _,_ aka the ‘Christen situation’.” I’m sorry, WHAT? Where are you getting these outlandish stories from Mal?

“There’s no way that’s true.” Lindsey counters as I nod in agreement. “Where did you hear that from?” Mal doesn’t miss a beat as she elaborates,

“A couple of months ago I overheard Tobin telling Allie, ‘God, I want to punch Kelley every time I think about her and Chris in college.’ and Allie replied ‘Tobin, that was years ago, you’ve got to try to let it go.’ Tobin just shrugged it off, but later at practice she placed a well aimed shot that hit Kel square in the stomach. It was enough for me to put two and two together.” 

All of us have our eyes back on Sonnett, trying to gauge her reaction. Suddenly the waiter appears and sets our meals down in front of us. Not sure how to proceed, we all tentatively pick at our food for a few minutes. Sonnett still says nothing and eventually gets up from the table and starts to walk away. Lindsey tries to grab Sonnett’s wrist and says,

“Son, stay, eat. I’m sure there’s an explanation. Don’t freak out.” But Sonnett pulls her hand away from Linds and mutters, 

“Not hungry.” before scampering away. Lindsey turns and glowers at Mal.

“Why did you have to bring that up? We’re not certain that’s 100% true, and you _know_ Sonnett is going to overthink everything now.”

“Please Lindsey, I’m pretty sure it is true. I wouldn’t really be a surprise, would it? I mean we’ve all heard about Kelleys’ escapades back then. I just don’t want Sonnett to go down this road if Kelley’s going to end up tossing her aside. She deserves way better than that. Plus, think of the mess it would be for the team.” I can see Mal’s point. It would cause a lot of unnecessary drama if things were to go south between the two defenders, but I have a hard time believing Kelley would do that to her, even if these Christen rumors proved to be true. 

“I guess you have a point, still isn’t it kind of too late? She already sort of went down that road…” Lindsey offers glumly. Man, nothing about this team is ever easy or simple, is it?

I turn towards the elevators and see Sonnett’s fleeting figure as she scurries out of sight. I can’t help but have a bad feeling about this…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know this chapter is shorter and basically all dialogue/banter, and doesn’t move the plot forward too much. Maybe not the most sophisticated of chapters, but I thought the exchange from another’s eye would be fun, and wanted to provide a bit of backstory on how the breakfast (mentioned in the previous Kelley chapter) went from fine to complete disarray. I promise the next chapter will fill in any remaining gaps, and will explain what leads Lindsey to call Kelley at the Utah airport. 
> 
> Also Just finally noticed that the font changed on me midway through the story. Not sure how that happened but I guess life is full of mysteries...also don’t know how to fix it so that’s where we’re at.


	15. I'm Really Glad You're Here - Sonnett

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Panic and surprises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any angst in this chapter was written under the influence of self-isolation. 
> 
> Also, apparently I made it my mission to see how many times I could use ‘hair dryer’ in one chapter. I apologize in advance :)

“Thanks for all of your help, Em” Kelley says into my neck. I tighten my hold on her, squeezing into our hug. I know if I had been late for an important meeting Kelley would have done the same for me. 

“And thanks for last night. It was- well I- I’ll talk to you soon.” I feel her lips pressing against my skin near my left eye. Kelley breaks away from our embrace and gives both of my hands a squeeze before stepping away from me completely. I can’t figure out exactly what I want to say, so I just nod and smile at her before she turns and starts jogging towards the elevator. 

Watching her leave sends a wide array of thoughts running through my brain. The most concerning of which is to race after Kelley, accompany her to her shoot, and head to Utah with her afterwards for the week. Sure I had planned on starting up preseason with the Pride right away, but technically I could take some time off after a national team camp, so it’s not completely out of the question. About half of my teammates are taking the time off, it wouldn’t be that hard to make the change.

Before I get too excited about that idea, however, I shake myself. No. I need to go back to Orlando. I owe it to my new team to put the extra time in, and it’s not like Kelley invited me to join her anyways. Not that I expected her to or anything, considering we haven't exactly defined what’s going on between us. I was hoping to have a chance to talk about things today, before I realized Kel would be busy, but I’m not too worried about it. I know Kelley and I have time to figure everything out.

I focus on these positive thoughts as I make my way back to my room. I knock before entering, in the off chance that Tobin and Christen are still in there, but I find the room empty. They must have gone to breakfast after all. Collapsing onto my bed, I stare up at the popcorn ceiling letting my thoughts consume me again.

I think about what could have happened if today had gone differently. If we had remembered to set an alarm, or if Kel hadn’t left early. I take the alone time to force myself to think through things, like really think through things. Think about what it is that I want with Kelley, and where I see this going. It doesn’t take long for me to get to my answer. I want more, I want to date Kelley, like be with her officially. It doesn’t have to happen right away but, I know that’s what I want eventually.

I thought coming to this conclusion would scare me a bit. I mean this is Kelley freaking O’Hara I’m talking about. The woman I’ve crushed on for years and looked up to even longer. But the thing is, I know Kelley, really well actually. And I’m like 90% sure she and I are on the same page. Kels is the one who initiated things after all, and I doubt she’d risk our friendship, and the possibility of disrupting team dynamics, if she wasn’t serious about us. Still, I wish we could have talked about it. 

Who says we can’t still talk about it? I know she’s going to be in a separate city for the foreseeable future but isn’t that what technology is for? Then, thinking about technology I remember my phone in my pocket. I know Kelley is probably still on her way to Nike and I don’t want to call her while she’s in a random car, but I can text her. Before I psych myself out, I compose a message and press send.

**Sonnett:** _So I know we just said goodbye but...hi. I was sorta thinking about stuff, well about last night, which was great by the way. The thing is, I’d really like to talk to you. I know you’ve got a busy day but maybe we can find time later? Just let me know. Looking forward to hearing from you!_

**Sonnett:** _Yikes. Just re-read that last sentence to myself and it sounds so formal, but idk it’s also the truth so, yeah._

God I sound like such an idiot sometimes. I chastise myself at my wording but also feel a little proud that I took the initiative to get this conversation started. I re-read my texts to Kelley when I notice the three dots at the bottom of the screen. Awesome, she’s already responding so that has to be a good sign, right? It’s taking her a while to finish writing so I decide to take a few minutes to pack up my things. Chuckling to myself at my newly acquired speed packing abilities, I hear my phone go off. 

I expect to see her response when I unlock my screen, but instead I see a group thread inviting me to breakfast. Not able to resist checking, I pull up my conversation with Kelley. I can see that she’s not typing anymore, but strangely no new messages have come through. It’s fine, it doesn’t mean anything. I remind myself how busy Kelley must be today and I’m sure she will respond when she has a minute. There's nothing to get worked up over, I’m 80% sure things with Kelley will be okay. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to diffuse the conversation with a bit of humor. 

**Sonnett:** _Also hope the shoot goes well today, and don’t worry, I’m sure the makeup department will be able to hide those hickeys ;)_

There, that’s funny and flirty. Right on par with how we’ve been acting lately. Plus I’m sure it will get a rise out of her. I can imagine Kel looking frantically in the mirror for any traces of our actions last night, before realizing that there are none. I wouldn’t do that to her while we’re at camp, I’m not that mean. I am hoping that this will elicit a response from her though, so I buy some time and get ready for breakfast.

Disappointment runs through me when I return to my phone and see that there’s still no text from her, but I try to think logically. She must have made it to Nike already. Surely she’ll laugh and reply when she has a break. Yeah, just relax. Kelley not being glued to her phone is a good thing, and there’s a 70% chance that I’m just overreacting to everything. I head out of my room, recognizing that I need to chill out, and thinking that my friends should be able help with that. 

…

They don’t. If anything I feel worse, like there’s only a 40% chance Kelley and I will figure this out. After breakfast I head up to my room and immediately change out of the clothes I’d borrowed from Kelley, opting for some comfy Adidas sweats and UVA sweatshirt. I tidy up the room before checking out, and hop in the team van that is taking those with afternoon flights to the airport. Lindsey is in the van with me and I see her sending concerned looks in my direction every so often, but I ignore them for now. I try to keep up with the conversation, offering a “hmm” and the occasional “yeah” but not really following. 

It’s been several hours and Kelley still hasn’t responded to any of my messages. I can’t imagine she’s gone this long without a break. Plus, I know she read my earlier messages, guess I’d assumed too much when I thought she’d want to reply to them. My anxiety about this situation gets the better of me, so I try to backtrack.

**Sonnett:** _Hey so you can disregard what I said about wanting to talk later. I was just looking for my hair dryer and was gonna ask if you’d seen it anywhere, but I found it so I’m all good!_

I was looking for my _hair dryer_? Really? That’s the best I can do? Honestly I should stop.

**Sonnett:** _I was worried that it had grown legs and walked off,_ _wouldn’t be the first time haha. But yeah, like I said, I found it, so no worries._

Okay I _need_ to stop. She probably doesn’t even want me texting her at this point. Put the phone down Sonnett.

**Sonnett:** _Not that you should be worried. I mean it is only a hair dryer after all, definitely replaceable. Still, lucky I found it, can’t be blowing money willy nilly on silly things like missing appliances._

Somebody help! Stop me! Strike me down! Anyone!

**Sonnett:** _Get it? Blowing? Cause it’s a hair dryer._ ****

I’m a menace, a disgrace, a despicable human, and apparently, a hair dryer liar. Lindsey finally answers my prayers and distracts me from my complete and utter self destruction with a sharp elbow to the ribs. 

“Sonnett, what is this?” She’s looking over my shoulder at my conversation (okay, meltdown) with Kelley. I realize the van’s stopped and my teammates are starting to file out. I shuffle my phone out of Lindsey’s view as I unbuckle my seat belt and move to exit the vehicle. 

“None of your business, that’s what it is.” I snap back. I can feel Lindey’s eyes burrowing into the back of my head but I don’t turn around. I hear her let out a breath as we grab our bags out of the trunk. 

“Alright, that’s fine. I’ll leave you to it then.” I breathe a sigh of relief that she doesn’t push me any further, but as we start to make our way towards security Lindsey continues,

“You should probably mention your hair dryer one more time though, you know, for good measure.” I pretend not to hear her, but the color of my face probably gives me away. 

Once we’ve made it through security, we say goodbye to most of our team. Lindey’s boarding gate is in the same general area as mine so we post up together after making our standard Starbucks run. I try to distract myself from my thoughts by playing on my phone, but it’s too easy to keep checking for messages. I put it away and start bouncing my leg up and down as I bite my thumb nail and look about the terminal. 

“Son, what’s up?” Lindsey tries again.

“What makes you think something’s up?” I reply, trying to sound nonchalant. 

“Well for one, your leg is shaking the entire row of seats.” Shit, she’s got me there.

“Sorry.” I murmur and force my leg to stay still.

“Sonny, I know you’ve been upset ever since breakfast. Do you want to talk about it?” No, I certainly do not. She gives me a minute, but when I don’t reply she sighs and continues “Okay, well just know I’m here when you decide you’re ready.” I manage a nod and she wordlessly hands me one of her airpods before starting an episode of Grey’s Anatomy on her phone. I know talking about it will probably make me feel better, or at least get me out of my head for a change, but it’s easier to ignore everything for just a little bit longer. Besides, Lindsey happens to put on one of my favorite episodes.

By the time they call for boarding I’m feeling mildly less terrible. Lindsey starts teasing me in her usual way, causing me to let out a reluctant laugh, before wrapping me up in a big hug. Linds likes to think she’s a “tough love” kind of friend, but when it comes down to it, she’s a big softy. We say goodbye and in a few minutes, I’m taking my window seat and making small talk with the kind older woman who is sitting next to me. Maybe things really will be okay. I might even be able to get some rest on this flight.

…

Okay Linds, you were right. I do need to talk about this, and I’m ready. I’m _beyond_ ready. But I'm also 30,000 feet in the air, and the older woman next to me is most definitely asleep now. Besides I wouldn’t exactly qualify this as “small talk” material. I was doing fine in the beginning. Even managed to lull off to sleep for the first hour or so, but once we hit turbulence over Kentucky, I woke up abruptly and realized I’d been dreaming about Kelley. Naturally this causes me to spiral. 

Dear God, why did I have to text her? I should have waited a few days, given her the chance to say something first. Instead I sent something that made me completely vulnerable, panicked, and probably made things even more uncomfortable by trying to take it all back. No wonder she hasn’t responded, I came off so immature. New rule, no texting anyone for at least 24 hours after sleeping with them. 

I replay the rest of the day in my head, dissecting every interaction with Kelley, and over analyzing all of the gossip I heard from my friends. By the time my plane touches down in Orlando, I’m 80% positive that I’ve messed everything up. If the rumors are true, then I’m sure Kel will take one look at my messages and want to run for the hills. If the rumors are false, I still look like a totally clingy doofus. I manage to hold it together until I’m crossing the threshold of my apartment. Once the door is closed behind me, I crack. I call Lindsey and tell her every thought I’ve had since I woke up this morning. 

“I see.” Is all she gives me after I spend the better half of an hour rambling on about what a disaster I am. “The crazy hair dryer texts make much more sense now.”

“Oh do they Lindsey?” I hear the agitation in my own response.

“Of course not, that was absolute nonsense, Son. But just take a deep breath for me, yeah?” Knowing how stubborn Lindsey can be, I let myself fume for a few more seconds before giving in and complying. Lindsey, hearing me exhale, continues, 

“Great. And one more? Good. Okay, ready to hear what I think?” I nod before remembering Lindsey can’t see me. I choke out a feeble “Yeah.” and wait for her to start.

“I think you need to try to forget about Kelley for a while.”

“What? No. I can’t do that-” I instantly argue, but Lindsey cuts me off.

“Just hear me out Sonny. ‘A while’ doesn’t mean forever, it could just be a day or two. Hell, even if it’s only for a few hours tonight so you can get some sleep, you need to try to forget about this mess. I’m sure Kelley will respond eventually, and you’ve been worrying yourself sick over this all day. You’ve got a huge day tomorrow and you need to focus on yourself and your wellbeing tonight. The first time training with a new team is a big deal Son. Whatever is going on between the two of you, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get resolved today, so you need to do your best to put it from your brain for now.” She’s not wrong but I just don’t know how I’m going to do that. 

Lindsey stays on the line for another twenty minutes coming up with ideas for staying preoccupied the rest of the day. After I write down the eighth suggestion I feel good enough to handle things on my own for a bit.

“Thanks Linds.”

“Of course.”

“No really, thank you. I know you probably just got home yourself and I like bombarded you.”

“Sonny, it’s no big deal. Like I said earlier, I’m always around if you want to talk. But if you think you are good I might get off the line. Ferguson has been eyeing his leash for a walk ever since I walked in the door, and I told my- uh- parents, that’d I’d give them a call when I got home.”

Lindsey makes me promise to call her later if I’m having trouble keeping busy before we hang up. I look down at the first thing on my list and get my butt in action. 

Six hours later I’ve unpacked, done laundry, cooked dinner for the week, and cleaned the whole apartment, all while listening to Lindsey’s new Spotify playlist. I go through my nighttime routine and settle into my couch opting to start a movie before trying to go to sleep. For the most part Lindsey’s strategy of “staying so busy you can’t think about it” works, but as I watch on, I feel the thoughts slowly creeping back up on me.

It’s the sound of my ringtone that finally breaks my trance, and I jump a bit from where I’m sitting. I wish I could say I didn’t immediately grab at my phone in the hopes that it was Kelley, but I’d be lying to myself. It’s not her. It’s Lindsey. This is the only time I can remember ever being disappointed to see her name across my screen, but I still open the text.

**Linds:** _Stop thinking so loud. I can hear you all the way in Denver._ (No you can’t, but still, you caught me.) _Besides, I really think you and Kelley are going to figure this out, try to get some sleep Sonny. <3_

I start to type back a snarky response, something along the lines of, _oh my it must be sooooo nice being the Great Horan and just knowing when things are going to work out_ , but I delete it as soon as I finish writing. Lindsey is just being a good friend, the greatest even, and it’s not fair to take my emotions out on her. 

**Sonny:** _Sorry Linds, I’ll try to keep it down. I hope you’re right. <3 _

I listen to Lindsey’s advice and try to sleep. I really do! But I just keep tossing and turning. When I finally give in and look at the clock, I see that it’s after 2 am. Awsome. I’m sure I’ll make a great first impression with the team tomorrow when I fall asleep on the field. I will myself to go to sleep and am just starting to drift off, when I hear my phone. I almost ignore it, but against my better judgement I unlock my screen. I sit bolt upright and can’t believe my eyes. 

Finally, FINALLY, Kelley’s responded. I open it immediately, not even caring at this point (because of course I have my read receipts on), and what I see is the most frustrating part of the entire day.

**Kelley:** _Landed safely. Talk soon!_

I know better by now than to wait for more to come through. I can’t believe you, Kelley, that’s it? I send you a novel and a half, and all I get back are six measly syllables! Besides you should have landed in Utah ages ago, so what’s with this _landed safely hours after the fact_ bullshit? Not to mention she completely ignored everything I said to her. I throw my phone into my pillows and roll over with a huff when I hear my ringtone again. As I stare down at the screen I can’t keep the thought that this text is even more aggravating than the last one out of my head.

**Kelley:** _xoxo._

What the hell? Is this Gossip Girl or something? Is she trying to be funny? I don’t know _what_ to do with that.

I shove my phone into my nightstand drawer and force myself to close my eyes, determined not to respond to Kelley. She made me wait hours for basically nothing, the least I can do is return the favor. 

Eventually I fall into a fitful sleep. A fitful sleep that, despite my best effort, is filled with brown hair, hazel eyes, and so, so many freckles. 

…

I wake up to my alarm clock blaring (see Kelley, some of us actually know how to use these things) and check my phone. I see another message from her.

**Kelley:** _Good luck at practice today!_

I ignore it. I also ignore the small smile it brings to my face. It means nothing, just a force of habit, I tell myself. I get ready and head into my kitchen. Halfway through making my morning smoothie, I remember it was Kelley who gave me this recipe. I throw it out and put a bagel in the toaster instead. 

I make sure to get to the Pride locker room a few minutes early and do my best to focus on the task at hand. As my new teammates shuffle in, I’m introduced and we all get settled in for practice. The morning meetings take about two hours, and include a little bit of film review. Once we’re given the word to head to the field, I lace up my boots and shuffle out of the locker room. Right as I step onto the pitch, someone grabs my arm and pulls me back into a hug.

“Hey Em.” The familiar voice says. I stiffen, mostly due to shock.

“Kel? How? What are you doing here?” I sputter out. Taking in my confused state, Kelley steps back, but keeps her arms wrapped loosely around my waist. It’s her turn to stumble over words as she says,

“Oh, uhm, well I was going to watch your practice. That is, if it’s okay with you?” She sounds hesitant, shy, and I feel some of the resentment I’ve been carrying around slip away. Still, I want to clarify what’s going on here.

“You flew across the country to watch me practice? Kelley, we were just at camp together. You saw me play for like two weeks straight.” Her lips tick up in way that is half smirk, half smile as she replies, 

“True, but you also mentioned that you wanted to talk, so while I’m here I thought maybe we could do that too?”

“I told you, I found my hair dryer.” I mumble, feeling my cheeks go red and becoming very interested in the ground underneath our feet. 

“Yeah, so I’ve heard. Funny, but I didn’t really think that’s what you wanted to talk about.” I can hear the slight smugness in her voice, but then she softens and gently nudges my chin with her hand so that I’m looking at her. “At least, I’m hoping that wasn’t all you wanted to talk about?” It comes out sweet and sincere and in a manner that I don’t often associate with Kelley. Any resolve I had to remain upset at the situation flies out the door. I feel myself grinning as I respond,

“Okay.”

“Okay? We can talk?” She asks as she lets out a breath I didn’t realize she was holding. I nod at her reassuringly and say,

“Yes Kelley, we can talk.” She smiles brightly and gives my shoulder a squeeze before moving towards the stands.

“Looking forward to it.” She teases, echoing the formality of the message I’d sent her. I stare after her a little disbelievingly. 

“You’re really going to stay and watch?”

“Oh definitely! I already checked with your coaches to make sure it was okay, so hop along Sonnett, get to it. After all, I need to have enough material to heckle you about at dinner.”

“Dinner?”

“Yes Son, dinner, with me, tonight. Assuming you’re up for it?” I nod back at her and Kelley beams, “Great, it’s a date then." With that she steps up into the stands and sits down about four rows back from the pitch. I stay rooted to the spot until one of my teammates comes jogging out of the locker room and thumps me on the shoulders. 

“Come on Sonnett, show us what you’ve got.” With that I send one last smile towards Kelley and jog over to the rest of my team.

It’s during the first water break that someone finally brings it up. In all of my time with the national team and the NWSL I’ve never had much in the way of interactions with Marta. The occasional grunt or scowl during game, but that’s about the extent. I nearly choke on my water as she is the first person to ask,

“So Sonnett, since when were you dating Kelley O’Hara?” 

“I-huh-we’re not- dating?” 

“Mmhm, and are you asking me or telling me?” I feel my heart rate pick up and grapple with my words, 

“Uhm.”

“Because if you’re asking me, I would say, why else would O’Hara fly across the country to see you?”

“Well see-” She cuts me off. 

“And if you’re trying to tell me you’re not dating, then I would say, bullshit, because Riley, Leroux, and Kennedy all heard Kelley invite you to dinner.” 

“Right, uhm-” I start.

“So Sonnett, I’ll ask you again. Since when were you dating Kelley O’Hara?” Pretty much everyone’s looking at me by this point. I glance frantically around the group until my eyes land on the small defender in the distance. When she sees me looking at her, she smiles and gives me a tiny wave. That’s all I need to regain my ability to speak. I take a breath before shrugging at Marta, 

“Since tonight.”

...

Kelley picks me up from my apartment. As in, she actually comes to the front door, knocks, and hands me flowers, before pecking a kiss on my cheek.

“Those are for you. I wasn’t sure what you liked but thought I couldn't go wrong with tulips.” she says somewhat timidly. I pull them from her delicately. 

“Thanks Kel. You didn’t have to do that, but they’re really-” I stop mid-sentence as I fully take in Kelley’s appearance. She’s matched a burgundy top with dark skinny jeans and black heels, making us essentially the same height. Her hair is down and I see just a bit of makeup, bringing out the different colors in her eyes. I can’t help the words that escape my lips, “really beautiful.” Kelley blushes, but also seems to gain some of her normal confidence back. I quickly find a vase for the flowers (fine a pitcher, but give me a break. I just moved in!) and we head out.

Kelley opens the passenger door of a black Jeep Wrangler for me, and offers up the aux cord as we pull out of my apartment complex. We joke around a bit and sing along to the tunes (Kelley rather off key), but I feel myself slipping into my head. 

I can’t really believe this is all happening. Kelley and I are going on a _date_ . I hadn’t missed the wording Kel used when asking me at practice, but any further doubts I had about what tonight was were cleared up with the flowers and Kelley’s manners. This is definitely a _date_ date. It all feels a little too surreal to me, and I struggle to fully engage in conversation. Kelley seems to pick up on this.

“You’re awfully quiet.” She notes. Kel says it in an upbeat tone, but I can hear the slight concern in her voice.

“Sorry, I’m still sorta wrapping my head around all of this. Like I don’t really get how you’re here, you know? I mean you’re supposed to be in Utah, and Lord knows where you even got this car from?” Kelley smiles but doesn’t take her eyes off of the road.

“Well technically I did go to Utah, even if I didn’t leave the airport. And this is Alex’s car. She’s letting me crash at her place for a bit while she and Serv are in LA.” It’s a logical response, but still doesn't exactly answer my questions. 

“It’s just that you went all day yesterday hardly saying anything to me, and then all of the sudden you’re at my practice? I’m not mad,” I rush to clarify, “the complete opposite actually, but I don’t really get what happened?”

“Right, that’s fair. Sorry, by the way, about not responding for so long. My phone was dead for most of the day, and by the time I finally got your messages, I’d realized that I needed to come here.” Kelley chances a glance at me and must see the questioning look on my face because she continues, 

“I thought about asking to visit you this weekend when I was on my way to Nike, but my phone died before I could really think it through. Then Horan called me when I landed in Utah and told me all about the slanderous breakfast you attended, and I wanted to be able to explain in person.” 

“Oh” is all I manage at first. Kelley had thought about visiting me? And Lindsey had called her? “Explain what?” I urge.

“Explain that rumor! Explain how it was one kiss for a stupid game and Tobin is still touchy about it. Which is ridiculous considering it was _Christen’s_ dare in the first place. Really I was just an innocent bystander who got caught in the crossfire, but that’s not- The point is that Christen and I didn’t hook up in college, and that I would never carelessly sleep with someone who means as much to me as you do, Emily.” _Emily_ , I latch onto my name. Kel just called me _Emily_ , she’s serious then! And she was never with Christen? Christ I could kill Mal. Plus she flew all the way here to see me, just so we could talk about- oh shit, she’s waiting for me to respond, isn’t she? 

“Right, cool. That’s uh- good.” Smooth Sonnett, really smooth. Come on think, she was so open with you, try to be the same with her. Something about being in the car, having the space to look out the window and not directly at her, makes it easier to be honest. “In the spirit of transparency, I wouldn’t have slept with you if you didn’t mean a lot to me too, Kelley.” Ugh, why do I get all formal and rigid when I get nervous? Kel doesn’t seem to mind though. She just grins and nods before saying,

“Okay.” We sit in silence for the next few minutes but it’s not uncomfortable. Actually it’s the most settled I’ve felt since leaving Kelley at camp. Especially when Kel takes one hand off the steering wheel and laces her fingers with mine before resting our hands in her lap. She traces her thumb in light patterns on my hand and I lean back in my seat feeling more than content. When we pull up to the restaurant, I unbuckle my seat belt and move to open my door but Kelley lightly tugs me back with our still entwined hands. 

“Son, wait.” I turn to face her as she leans across the console She brushes a loose strand of hair behind my ear and eyes me up and down. “I forgot to tell you how beautiful you look.” I open my mouth to respond but my words are lost once I feel Kelley’s lips on mine. Her hand cups my cheek as she brings me even closer, and I feel her gently bite my lower lip, opening my mouth so she can slip her tongue in between my lips. My whole body heats up at the contact, and I can’t suppress the whimper that leaves me as Kelley pulls away. She doesn’t comment on my reaction, but looks entirely too pleased with herself as she asks, “Hungry?” before skirting out of her seat and rushing over to open my door. Right, dinner, food, that’s what we’re doing right now. Chivalry be damned, Kelley knows exactly what she’s doing to me, exactly what thoughts she’s putting into my brain, but two can play it that way. Game on O’Hara.

Going out with Kelley is great. It’s fun and easy and we both take turns teasing each other from across the table. Kelley hardly takes her eyes off of me the entire meal, as if she’s challenging me to look away or blush. I don’t back down though. Instead I bide my time waiting for the right moment. When the chance presents itself, I send Kel a wink as she sips her water, causing her to involuntarily smile and let some of the liquid dribble down her chin. We both laugh at this and Kelley starts to flush with embarrassment, but stops when I lean across the table to wipe the water away with my thumb. I sit back and cross my arms as I pretend to observe Kelley. I tilt my head to the side and lower my voice,

“You know, you’re pretty cute when you’re messy.” Kelley’s cheeks start to tint again, and I can’t hide the smirk that spreads across my face. After getting me all flustered earlier with her little make out session, I feel some satisfaction at repaying the favor. I’ve felt much better about things ever since our conversation in the car, but I know that we still have more to talk about. That doesn't mean I can’t flirt my way through it though. Attempting to keep control of the exchange, I begin with, 

“So… you wanted to take me to dinner. Guess that means you want to date me, then, huh? I get it, I am pretty irresistible.” I wag my eyebrows and do my best to put off the confidence that has been eluding me for the majority of the past 36 hours.

“Yes and so humble.” Kelley quips back. “And to answer your question, no.”

“No?” I ask, taken aback. What the fuck? Why’d you fly all the way out here just to turn me down? What was all that shit in the car about caring for me then? I try not to look as upset as I feel while I continue, “Oh, I just assumed because you asked me out, that you’d want to-”

“No Em, what I mean is, I don’t want to just casually date you. I’m actually interested in being your- well your girlfriend, but I didn’t know if that would be coming on too strong? So I thought _a_ date would be a good place to start.” Holy shit. Did she really just say that? I realize that I’m staring at her, mouth slightly ajar. Kelley must notice too because she continues fairly nervously, 

“Sorry, was that too forward of me? We can take things slow, or really whatever you want to do is fine by me. I’m just trying to be honest about where I hope this will go because I know communication hasn’t exactly been our strong suit and-” It’s cute listening to Kelley ramble, and it makes me feel like we’re on more equal footing considering how tongue-tied I seem to get around her, but eventually I put her out of her misery. 

“Kelley, you’re fine.” I reach across the table for her hand and continue, “For the record I’m pretty interested in being your girlfriend too, but this, a first date, was a good idea.” It’s not everything we need to say, but it’s a start, and for now, it’s good enough. We relax into conversation again, Kelley wanting to hear all about how my first day with the Pride went.

“Kels, you were there, you saw how it went!” I say as I let out a small chuckle. Kelley sounds so earnest as she responds,

“Yes but I want to hear _your_ perception of it of course! Plus I didn’t sit in on the meetings you had and couldn’t hear everything that was said on the field.” She continues to pester me for every little detail of my day, and she knows I’m only kidding as I “begrudgingly” give in. 

We sit at the table for a while after finishing our meal, but eventually my food coma, on top of the exhausting day (both physically and mentally), begins to take a toll on me. I try to stifle a yawn but Kelley sees through it,

“Tired?” I shrug and reply honestly,

“Didn’t sleep well.” Kelley sends me sympathetic grimace upon hearing this, before launching into another apology, 

“Sorry, Em. Really I am. I knew I wouldn’t be able to fully respond to you without giving away where I was, so I purposely kept the messages short. I tried to reply in a way that would clue you into where my head was at, but I guess that didn’t work?” I stare at her incredulously and Kelley, taking in the bewildered look on my face, elaborates,

“I said that we would _talk soon_ and sent you _xoxo_ , why else would I send that if I didn’t have some sort of feelings for you?”

“I didn’t think you were serious! I thought it was a joke or something?” Kelley feigns offense and playfully slaps my wrists.

“I would never joke about hugs and kisses Son, never.” She says, purposely playing up her normally non-existent southern accent. 

“Alright fine,” I relent, both of us giggling again, “but we’re officially terrible at texting.” Kelley agrees and adds,

“It’s because we have such animated personalities. That doesn’t translate well via messaging.” I try to laugh again, but it gets cut off by another yawn. Kelley instantly flags down the waiter to grab the check.

“Come on, babe. Let’s get you home before you turn into a pumpkin.” Kelley refuses to let me pay, and insists on me holding her arm while she “escorts” me back to my “carriage.” Apparently she takes her Cinderella analogies very seriously. As we walk back to the car I think about how the evening went. How we both admitted we’d like to see this thing between us turn into something more. It makes me incredibly excited to think about what our future might look like, but in all the conversation we had of what led Kelley to make this trip, I realize I never told Kelley how happy I am that she is here. I stop abruptly in front of the Jeep and pull on Kelley’s bicep. Speaking softly I ask,

“Hey Kel?” She picks up on my change in tone and turns to face me. She raises her eyebrows innocently waiting for me to continue.

“Yeah?”

“Uhm. I’m really-” I clear my throat and shake myself. I look Kelley right in the eyes and tell her, “I’m really glad you’re here.” She’s glowing as she gracefully enfolds me into a hug. She lightly rubs her fingers up and down my back, and her lips brush the shell of my ear while she whispers,

“Me too, Emily. Me too.”

…

When we pull up to my apartment complex, Kelley once again opens my door and helps me out of the car. I string our hands together and start to walk towards the entrance of my building when I’m jerked back. I turn around and see that Kelley is still rooted to a spot near the car. She looks anxious as she stumbles with her words, 

“Are- are you sure you want me to come up? I know you’ve had a long day and I definitely didn’t expect- I can go back to Alex’s if you want?” It’s cute that she wants to check in with me, but completely unnecessary. I roll my eyes at her. 

“Kelley, you flew across the country to see me. There’s _no way_ you’re sleeping at Alex’s place tonight.” I tell her firmly. “Besides, since you bought dinner I was hoping to treat you to breakfast.” I finish, making it clear that I fully expect Kelley to spend the night. This seems to reassure her, and she falls inline with my step when we make our way inside.

It’s a little strange being in my new apartment. I’m still getting used to calling it home, but when I walk in the door and see the Tulips on my table, calling it home seems a little easier. 

“Do you want anything to drink? I have water, and uh, water with ice?” I internally wince at my lack of beverage options, but Kelley just lets out a low chuckle.

“Water with ice would be great.”

“Two waters on the rocks coming up.” I see Kelley shaking her head at me as I run around the kitchen looking for where I unpacked my glasses. I hand her a cup and we clink our drinks together before each taking a big sip. 

As I bring my glass down, I’m greeted with a sight that stirs something in me. Kelley’s head is back as she continues to gulp down the water. Her neck is completely exposed and I can see every swallow she takes. Images of sucking, licking, and kissing Kelley’s skin flash through my mind, and I’m stepping towards her before I can think twice about it. Kel startles when she lowers her glass and see’s how close I am. I take both of our drinks and set them down, before letting my hands still on either side of her, effectively trapping Kelley between me and the counter. She lets out a breathy,

“H-hi.” and her gaze drops from my eyes to my lips. I can’t help the devilish grin I give her, before wrapping her up in my arms and pressing our lips together. She hums as she relaxes into the kiss, and gives back everything I’m giving her. Kelley doesn't pull apart until I’m starting to feel lightheaded. She seems equally aroused but tries to ground us, blinking several times before saying, voice wavering slightly, 

“So...this is the new place, huh?” She gestures around the apartment. I nod and she continues, “Wanna give me a tour?” Her tone, while laden with innocence, is given away by the leer of her lips and the slight arc of her eyebrow. Deciding to play dumb, I step away and enthusiastically say,

“Oh sure, come on.” I tug on her hand and pull her into the living space. “Here’s the family room, fully equipped with a couch, TV, & coffee table. You’re pretty familiar with the kitchen, and if you look over there you’ll see the dining room.” Predictably, Kelley glances over her shoulder, and I use the opportunity to bend down, grab her legs, and throw her over my body fireman style. 

“What? Sonnett, Em, put me down!” She half hollers, half squeals. 

“But I thought you wanted a tour, Miss Kelley?” I ask coyly while making my way to the bedroom. 

“This is not what I had in mind!” I drop her gently so she’s laying down on my bed and quickly position myself on top of her. I straddle her waist with my legs and use one hand to pin her wrists above her head. 

“Oh really?” I ask slyly, moving to plant kisses along her jaw. I use my free hand to skim over her torso and hear her breath hitch as I scrape my nails across her stomach. “This _isn’t_ what you had in mind?” I say, already knowing full well the answer. I move so my lips are just above her mouth and hover over her body “Are you sure?” Kel refuses to meet my eyes, and wears a small, defiant pout on her face, but she knows I won’t budge until she’s responded.

“Pictured it differently.” She mumbles. I can’t help but snicker. Does it surprise me that Kelley’s competitive about this, and slightly put out that I’ve managed to gain the upper hand? No, not in the slightest. 

“Of course you did.” I chortle, and then lowering my voice add, “Don’t worry, baby. You’ll have your turn. That is, if you can behave for me?” I know how much she likes a challenge, so when Kelley’s jaw slacks with the moan that slips past her lips, I use her open mouth to my advantage, kissing her deeply. 

I let go of her wrists, but she keeps them in place above her head. Good girl. I smirk to myself before resuming my attack on her neck, collar bone, and lips. With both my hands free, I push her shirt up above her chest and she arches her back so I can remove her bra. I lower my head so I can take her nipple in my mouth and cherish the way Kelley writhes underneath me.

“Fuck, Son.” She whines. I open my eyes and look up so I can see Kelley, but don’t stop teasing her. Kelley’s eyes are closed and her lungs are heaving. I undo her jeans and help her shimmy out of her bottoms. She pulls her top the rest of the way off, while I quickly shed my clothes. She shivers as I slide back on top of her, fitting between her legs, both of us completely bare. 

I continue to toy with her, massaging her breasts while my mouth grazes her pulse point, pinching her nipples while my teeth tug at her lips, and running my fingers across her abs as I follow with bites that are sure to leave a mark. Her arms have fallen down at her sides face up, but they stay glued to the bed as she restrains from moving them. Her efforts to be good for me don’t go unnoticed. 

“You’re being very patient.” I tell her, sliding my hand down to trace her hip bone. 

“T- trying, to be.”She pants out. 

“Can you wait a little longer?” I move my hand lower, feeling the wetness that has pooled between her legs, and bringing it up to lightly circle her clit. I repeat this action a few times before Kelley whimpers,

“No.” 

“Good, me neither.” Thank God she called me on my bluff. 

When I enter her, she finally moves her hands, digging her nails harder into my skin each time I thrust into her. I shift so I can use my body weight more to my advantage, and holy shit, I realize how wet I am. I plan on dealing with that later and focusing fully on Kelley now, but she has other ideas. She slots one of her hands between my legs and teases my entrance for a bit, before slipping two fingers inside of me. I still for a minute, maybe let out an involuntary moan, but quickly regain my composure. We work each other up, matching our paces, until I can tell I’m close. Kelley comes just before I do, but seeing her completely wrecked underneath me is enough to send me over the edge.

I collapse on top of her, both of us completely spent as we sink into the bed. Once our breathing evens out, and our heart rates return to normal, I feel Kelley place a chaste kiss on my hairline. I keep my head resting on her chest as she lightly draws shapes on my back with the pads of her fingers. We stay like this for several minutes, until I notice my energy returning to me. I lift my chin so that it’s resting on Kelley’s sternum and look up into her face.

“So…” I say, voice full of cockiness, “better than what you pictured?”

“Oh shut up.” And she’s laughing as she teases me, but I retort with a, 

“Make me.” Purposely using an overly sassy tone. 

So she does. She does until she can’t, until no amount of kissing will muffle the loud “oh fucks” and “Yes, Kels” spilling out of my mouth. 

  
  
  
  
  


\------ Eight Weeks Later------

I feel the heavy hand of my teammate land on my shoulder as she asks,

“Yo Son, you in?” Ashlyn gestures towards the flip cup table that has once again materialized at Alex’s house, although this time we’re in the backyard. We just finished our friendly against Brazil, and Alex wanted the team to come over to meet Charlie. Naturally we used the excuse to have a mini-party. Nothing crazy, just a few beers here and there while we all take turns admiring the baby from her mother’s arms. Alex wouldn’t trust anyone who’s drinking to hold her precious daughter, not that I blame her. 

“Is that even a question?” I respond to the tall blonde. We walk over to where a fair amount of our teammates have assembled, and I line up across the table from a certain freckled defender. I can’t help but smile as I meet her eyes. 

“Hey sexy. Are you ready for this?” My girlfriend asks me.

“As a wise woman once told you Miss Kelley, I was born ready.” Kel looks like she's going to verbally retaliate, but Ash speaks up first, 

“Lovebirds, focus. You’re starting us off. Rose has got a question for you.” I internally groan, and Kelley and I both roll our eyes. We know what’s coming at this point. Rose is wearing a grin that would make the Cheshire Cat proud as she fills her lungs up with air and loudly asks,

“Top or bottom?” Neither of us so much as bat an eyelash when we simultaneously shout “top” and down our beers. It’s only a matter of seconds before our cups are flipped over, me just barley edging Kelley out this round. Our teams continue to race down the table, but Kelley’s full attention is on me.

“You beat me.” She says, but she’s also smiling.

“Yeah.” I reply smugly, “Did you think I was going to let you win?” She quirks her eyebrow at me as she fidgets with her now empty cup.

“Maybe…isn’t that what girlfriends do?” Nice try Kelley.

“Would you purposely let me win?” I question. Kel doesn’t hesitate. 

“No.” She lets out a laugh, “never.” and then she leans across the table to kiss me, slow and sweetly. Man, I love her lips. When we pull apart Pinoe and Ash are looking at us.

“What?” I ask them. 

“You both said ‘top’” Pinoe notes, while she and Harris gawk at us with disbelieving looks. I feel my cheeks starting to flush, God not this again, but Kelley seems unbothered. She makes her way to stand next to me and merely shrugs as she says,

“Yeah so? It’s the shortest answer.” Hah, see! I knew I liked her for a reason. The pair of friends studies us before Pinoe pipes up again,

“I’m not buying it.” She says firmly, crossing her arms and biting her cheek while continuing to eye us down.

“So really, how does that work?” Wonders Ashlyn. Kelley lets out a cackle before swinging her arm around my shoulder.

“Well if you _must_ know, we trade off days.” Kel says it with an air of humor, as though she’s joking, but she’s totally not. I put on my best poker face and hope our teammates don’t see through me. 

“There’s no way that’s true.” Pinoe affirms. Great, she thinks Kelley’s kidding. Just try to keep a neutral expression, that’s it, don’t give yourself away. It doesn’t work. Ashlyn looks like a kid in a candy shop when she notices my blush and rushes to point out,

“Yes it is, look how red Sonny’s getting!” Kelley, Pinoe, and Ash all burst out laughing. I grimace before joining in with some nervous giggles. Maybe that’s it, maybe they’ll leave us alone now. Wrong again.

“So do you guys live together yet? You’ve been official for what, a whole month now? I’d say it’s about time to rent a Uhaul, don’t ya think?” Pinoe jests. She would make that joke. I open my mouth to stutter out a lame response, but Kelley is one step ahead of me,

“Nah, but don’t worry, we’re engaged so it’s only a matter of time.” she says casually. Oh my God. She is too much sometimes. Ash and Pinoe crack up at Kelley’s pun, but I feel the need to rein her in. I know I sound sheepish when I shout,

“ _Kelley_!” and lightly smack her ass, hoping to clue her into my minor humiliation. 

Shit, I should have realized this would only add fuel to the fire. I see my teammates eyes widen at my actions. Alshyn leans over into Pinoe’s ear and says, in a carrying whisper, 

“Must be Son’s day on top.” before they both topple over howling. At this point I’m too embarrassed to speak. Kelley, finally sensing that I’ve reached my capacity for teasing tonight, decides it’s time to leave. She puts on her best ‘concerned’ face and abruptly says,

“Shit, Sonnett. I think we have to head back to the hotel. I’ve just remembered I misplaced my hair dryer.” Pinoe straightens and gives Kelley a confused look.

“Wait, I thought you lost your hair dryer last week Kel? Are you saying you can’t find it _again_?” Before Kelley can come up with an excuse, Ashlyn adds,

“Yeah, and you told me you couldn’t find it a few weeks ago.” Then, horribly, I see a look of recognition crossing her face. She gasps and brings a hand up to her mouth.

“Ew, guys. That’s the worst code for sex I’ve ever heard!” Ash says, before laughing at us yet again. 

“Whatever,” Kelley shrugs, “At least I’m getting some.” She sends a sassy wink at the pair of them, before ushering me towards the door. 

“Come on babe.” she whispers into my ear. I know my face is the color of a summer strawberry, and while I’m completely mortified that Kel just did all that in front of our teammates, it’s worth it to have her arms around me. Plus, I know I’ll have my payback once we get back to our room. My teammates might be pros at embarrassing me, but they also weren’t wrong...It is my day on top ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s all folks! I hope you enjoyed reading this and maybe got a couple of laughs out of it. Thanks again to all who left feedback! It really helped keep me motivated to stay on track with writing/encouraged me to finish the story. I greatly appreciated it and always enjoyed reading the comments.
> 
> And to anyone who is considering taking a stab at posting something you totally should! My experience with this community has been only good, and it was really fun to try something new. Plus the world can always use more femslash :)


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